Mrs Rebecca Aimiohu Okojie, a native of Ewu, Esan Central LGA of Edo State, Nigeria, was born on 25th March, 1964 and therefore, 57 years old.

She obtained her FSLC and WASC from St. Paul’s Catholic Primary School and Our Lady of Lourdes, (Uromi) Girls Grammar School in 1974 and 1979, respectively.  Thereafter, she proceeded to the now-defunct Advanced College, Igueben, Edo State where she obtained her GCE Advanced Levels in 1981.

In 1985, she obtained a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree (with 2nd Class upper Division) in Biochemistry from the University of Benin, after which she participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme which she concluded in 1986. Mrs Okojie also obtained a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science Degrees from the University of Ilorin in 1997 and 2004 respectively. In addition, she has defended her Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Biochemistry in July 2021.

Mrs Okojie joined the services of the University of Ilorin, in April 2006 as a Senior Assistant Registrar from the private sector and after a satisfactory residency of four (4) years got promoted to the post of a Principal Assistant Registrar in 2010. She thereafter responded to an internal and external advertisement for the position of Deputy Registrar and was appointed a Deputy Registrar in 2012. She has, since joining the University, served in diverse key roles, including as Faculty Officer of a couple of Faculties, Secretary, Postgraduate School, Deputy Registrar Academic Support Services (ASS), and Deputy Registrar, Human Resources.

In addition to servicing statutory meetings and being a member of several ad-hoc committees, including the Committee on Strategic Plan (2014 -2019), the seasoned administrator made some key contributions to the operations as highlighted below:

As Deputy Registrar, DR (Academic Support Services)

1. Promoted the entrenchment of e-Senate meetings after the University deployed meeting management solutions by contributing to the development of templates for processing various Senate matters and ensured compliance to them and compliance to submission deadlines;
2. Successfully midwifed a landmark achievement of producing student transcripts for all graduating students in 2013 in addition to generating a quantum sum, in the excess of forty million Naira, which contributed to the University ranking and to the satisfaction of the alumni;
3. Introduced weekly unit meetings to review performance; and
4. Facilitated digitalization of the various sub-units.

As Deputy Registrar, DR (Human Resources)

1. Facilitated the review of the Conditions of Service and the Career Structure for non-teaching staff;
2. Made recommendations for the constitution of a Technical Committee for both the junior and senior A & PC to facilitate proceedings at meetings;
3. As Chair LOC, midwifed the maiden and 2nd editions of the Unilorin Annual Public Registry Lecture;
4. As the Unilorin Branch Training Officer of the Association of Nigerian Professional University Administrators (ANUPA), contributed to the institution of the monthly Registry Seminar Series as a vehicle for capacity building which has been adopted by other administrative arms of the University.

As Deputy Registrar, Mrs Okojie held the forte on several occasions for the Registrar (2013-2018), when the Registrar had cause to be away on some other official assignments which earned her the unofficial title of ‘Alternate Registrar’.

Currently, she is on a visiting appointment with the Kwara State University as Director, Administration and Operational Services, Vice-Chancellor’s Office. At KWASU, she has been a member of numerous committees, including being a facilitator at the KWASU Management Retreat for the development of the KWASU Strategic Plan (2022-2027) and for which she was duly recognized.

Worried about underperformance and poor quality staff, she facilitated the inauguration of the KWASU Branch of the Association of Nigerian Universities Professional Administrators (ANUPA) and commenced a monthly Registry seminar series. In addition, she is facilitating KWASU membership of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

As an astute administrator of international repute, Mrs Okojie has very strong character ethics of passion, resilience integrity, commitment, loyalty, and respect for everyone. She has superb ICT skills, communication skills, adaptability skills, numerical skills, self-learning skills and excellent people skills. Thus, she is able to work well with diversity and consistently deliver value through people. In addition to all these outstanding qualities, she has good negotiation and conflict resolution skills.

Interestingly, Mrs Okojie belongs to a number of professional bodies, both nationally and internationally which include the Association of Nigerian Professional University Administrators (ANUPA) of which she was the National Training Officer (NTO) (2014-2018). As NTO and with the cooperation of the executive at that time, she raised the bar for ANUPA training, in both qualities of resource persons and papers delivered. In the 4 years of her tenure, a minimum of (16) such lectures were delivered by the very best in the profession, at most befitting venues such as NIPPS, Jos, ASCON, Badagry, NUC, etc. On her own part, she has presented over ten (10) papers at various training and workshops, including an ‘emergency’ pro-bono paper for administrators of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) in 2015.

Similarly, she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN), Association of University Administrators, (AUA, UK), Country Liaison, HR in HE Community of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2018-date), and African Association of Public Administration and Management (AAPAM). She has also attended many national and international conferences, seminars and workshops, all to her credit.

As part of her community service, Mrs Okojie has participated in a number of social initiatives, including being the Chairperson, Parents Teachers Association of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College, Ilorin; Chairperson, Fundraising Committee of St. Joseph Cathedral; and Patron, Catholic Youth Organisation of Nigeria. She is a member of the Bikers Club, an initiative of KWASU Fitness & Wellness, as well as MMGIVIT, a not-for-profit organization aimed at the redistribution of wealth. On the global scene, she was a participant at a Futures Project round-table organized by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in collaboration with the United Nations in 2018.

Her commitment to excellence attracted recognitions from both within and outside the University, including the University of Ilorin Administrator of the Year Award (2016), three (3) ANUPA awards of Meritorious Service, and in December, 2021, the KWASU Award of Excellence for her exceptional contributions to the success of KWASU Management Retreat.

Her interests include fitness, advocacy, reading, and cooking. Mrs Okojie is happily married with four (4) amazing adult children and enjoys very good health.

She hopes to consolidate and grow the contributions of preceding Registrars by building and nurturing a data-driven, excellent and responsive Registry that will provide effective and efficient support to the laudable efforts of the Governing Council, the Vice-Chancellor and his team for the achievement of the Vision and Mission of the Federal University Lokoja.

She acknowledged that she has enjoyed and will continue to enjoy the privilege of learning under the best hands in university administration in Nigeria on whose giant shoulders she stands.  

Mrs Rebecca Aimiohu Okojie was appointed Registrar of Federal University Lokoja by the Governing Council on Thursday, 27th January, 2022 following the interview conducted for all the twelve shortlisted candidates which held on Wednesday, 26th January, 2022 leading to the conclusion of the Process of Selection of the 3rd Registrar for the eleven-year-old University. She will take over from the outgoing Registrar, Adm Usman Suleman Obansa whose 5-year tenure will end in February, 2022.

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