Prof. Anthonia Okoosi Simbine was born a twin in Kaduna state, where she lived most of her early life and hails from Ayere in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi state. She obtained her first degree in Public Administration from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria in 1984 and her MSc and PhD degrees in Political Science from the University of Ibadan (UI). She won the British Council Fellowship award to the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 1993 as part of her PhD programme.

Prof. Antonia Taiye Okoosi-Simbine – National Commissioner

Until her appointment, she was a Researcher at the Federal Government owned Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) in Ibadan, Oyo State, where she rose from a youth corps member in 1984 to the rank of Research Professor (2010) and Director of the Social and Governance Policy Research Department (SGPRD). Her main areas of interest and in which she worked, published and consulted include the Public sector, Legislature, Politics and Elections in Nigeria; Gender issues in especially (Women’s) Education and Political Participation; International Relations/Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution; as well as issues in socio-economic development and good governance.

In year 2000, she was a Resource Person for the Swedish – based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) on “Democracy Assessment in Nigeria”. In 2002/2003, she was a Scholar on an Exchange Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, India during which she compared the political party system in India with Nigeria’s.

Prof. Simbine was a Consultant to the Presidency’s Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) in 2008 and also worked with the Sub-Committee on Electoral Systems. She was later appointed a Member, INEC Registration and Election Review Committee (IRERC) between August and November 2011. In 2013, she was appointed a Faculty Member and Reviewer for the New York based Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council.

She is a member of several local and international professional organizations that promote democratic governance and development. She teaches Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Ibadan and serves as External Examiner (undergraduate and post-graduate) to the Universities of Benin and Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University in Ilorin, Kwara State. She speaks Yoruba and Hausa fluently.