Profile Of Her Excellency Professor Monique Oshame Ekpong (KSJI)

H.E. Professor Monique Oshame Ekpong (KSJI), a Professor of English, is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Republic of Angola. She is also the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors of Member States of the Gulf of Guinea Commission. The Member States comprise Angola, Cameroon, the Congo Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of Gabon, the Republic of Ghana, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe.

Ambassador (Professor) Monique O. Ekpong, an indigene of Idum, Mbube, Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State in Nigeria, was born on 30th March 1950. Her early education was under the tutelage of foreign Catholic nuns in Holy Child Secondary School, Mount Carmel, Ogoja, Cross River State in Nigeria. Her Higher School Certificate was obtained from the famous Queen’s College, Lagos, noted for the production of many female leaders in Nigeria. Her education traversed institutions in Nigeria, Togo, and France.

The Ambassador of Nigeria to Angola has academic qualifications that include a Doctorate Degree(Ph.D.) in English Studies, African Literature, and Gender Studies from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria; a Master’s Degree in English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria; a Bachelor’s Degree in Education and French from the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria; and a Nigerian Certificate in Education also from the University of Lagos. She also studied in the University of Togo and the University of Besancon, France.

Her career path includes the Dean and Director, School of Communication Arts in the former Calabar Polytechnic, Cross River State; the Director, General Studies Programme, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH), Cross River State. 

She has served in many capacities as a politician in the Cross River State Public Service. She was the first female Commissioner in the Cross River State Teaching Service Commission, in 1979. She served as Member, Ogoja Local Government Council from June 2002 to July 2003. At other times, 

she served as Member, C.R.S. Government Transition Management Sub-Committee on Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation, and as Member, Think-Tank Committee of C.R.S. on Family Support Program, to mention but a few. She later taught English at Veritas University, Abuja from where she was appointed Nigerian Ambassador to Angola.

As a seasoned Educationist, Professor Ekpong has taught in the University system since 2002. 

 The Nigerian Ambassador to Angola speaks and writes English and French fluently. As a polyglot, she speaks a total of nine languages,  seven of which are indigenous Nigerian languages which include Mbube or Mbe, her mother-tongue, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik, Boki, Bete and Ishibori. 

Ambassador (Professor) Monique Ekpong is a prolific writer who has written two well researched books in her area of specialization (Gender Studies), namely: Feminist Consciousness in Selected Works of Ama Ata Aidoo and Zora Neale Hurston, and Womanhood Redefined in Selected Fiction of Ama Ata Aidoo. She also has to her credit over sixty pieces of creative writing and more than thirty scholarly articles published in reputable international journals across the globe.  

As an erudite scholar, Ambassador (Professor) Monique Ekpong has travelled widely and has presented scholarly papers at international Conferences such as the International Conference of the African Literature Association in  the University of Charleston, USA, the Yale University also in the US, the University of Legon in Ghana and the Whitsand University in South Africa. Ambassador (Professor) Ekpong has also presented papers at the American Literature Association International Conference in Washington D.C. in the US, among others. 

Some of the countries Ambassador Professor Ekpong has visited include – USA, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland,    United Arab Emirate, South Africa, Ghana, Togo, the Republic of Angola and the Republic of Benin.

Ambassador Monique Ekpong is a team player, a great motivator, a detribalized female Nigerian Diplomat, who has won many national and international merit awards, the most recent being the DIPLOMAT OF THE YEAR conferred on her on 9th December, 2021 by Africa Illustrous Award.

She is married to H.E. Sir Brian O. Ekpong (KSJI), a retired Permanent Secretary and two-term Chairman, Civil Service Commission of Cross River State. The marriage is blessed with five children.