Rose Okoji Oko is a Nigerian politician and senator. She was a Member of the Federal House of Representatives from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), serving the people of Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency in Nigeria’s 7th class of the National Assembly.

NAME: Rose Okoji Oko

DATE OF BIRTH: 27 September 1956

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Yala LGA, Cross River State

FATHER: Thomas Ojeka also from Opkoma

MOTHER: Agbo Ojeka from Opkoma

OCCUPATION: politician and senator

EDUCATION: WTC Primary School Enugu, Federal school of Arts & Science Ogoja in Cross River State to acquire her Higher School Certificate (Nigeria).

CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: Okoji Oko started her career in the Nigerian Youth Service Corps as a tutor in Edgerly Memorial Girls Secondary School, Calabar in 1981. Between 1982 and 1983 she taught at St. Patricks College, Calabar and in the same year moved to become a lecturer at the Cross River School of Basic Studies Akampka. She held this position till 1984 when she moved to the University of Calabar to become an Assistant Lecturer in the department of Language and Linguistics until 1986 when she was promoted to become Lecturer in the same department.[citation needed] In 1989 at the age of 33 she was recognised for her years of service and started her career as a public servant when she was appointed as Commissioner of Education, Cross River State; a position she held till 1991. In that same period, she served as for Chairperson Better Life Programme, Cross River Chapter from 1990 – 1991.

In 1999 Rose registered and formed part of the team to introduce the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to Cross River State as an inactive member of the party. Between 2002 and 2004 after she retired from public service, she registered and introduced the National Democratic Party (NDP) to Cross River State and served as the Deputy Chairman South, Board of Trustees, NDP. In 2003 when Nigeria held her first democratic election since the handover of power from military to civilian rule, Okoji Oko contested as a senate candidate, Cross River State North Senatorial District under the NDP banner, a contest she lost to the PDP candidate at the time. She continued to serve as chairman of the board of trustees for the NDP party up until 2007, when she ran in the country’s second official democratic election as a gubernatorial candidate for Cross River State, a contest she lost to the PDP candidate.

PUBLICATIONS:

Okoji R. Oko 1986 “Tense and Aspect in Yala”. The Journal of West Africa Languages Vol.1 pp. 37–52.
Okoji R. Oko 1987 “Languages and Education in Nigeria. The Case of the English Language” (In Emenyonu E.N.ed.) Studies in African Literature, pp. 229–311.
Okoji R. Oko 1990 “Interrogation in Yala”. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Port Harcourt.
Okoji R. Oko 1992 The Grammar of Question Formation in Yala. Kraft’s Book Publishers, Ibadan. ISBN 9782081116

ACHIEVEMENTS: 

West African Linguistics Society
Linguistics Association of Nigeria
The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Linguistics Studies
Calabar Doyen Lioness Club
Calabar Municipal Lions Club
Yala Women’s Association
Cross River State Northern Women’s Association
Madonna Sisters Association
Catholic Women Organisation
Patron, Model Secondary School, Okpoma, Cross River State
Vice President, Cross River State Association, Abuja
Patron, Exquisite Ladies Association, Cross River State
Patron, Voice of Women (Network Organisation), Cross River State
Patron, Intimate Ladies Association, Cross River State[citation needed]

Member House of Representatives
Senator Oko commenced a four-year tenure as Member House of Representatives, Yala/Ogoja Federal Constituency in June 2011. That year she was appointed to the following committees:

Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Education[5]
Member, House Committee on Gas
Member, House Committee on Public Accounts
Member, House Committee on Works
Member, House Committee on Industry
Member, House Committee on Army
Member, House Committee on Women Affairs