Nkoyo Toyo


Nkoyo Esu Toyo is a Nigerian politician, lawyer and development consultant with a specialty in human rights and gender equity. She is a former Nigerian ambassador to Ethiopia, and founder of the Gender and Development Action Nigeria. She was elected to represent the Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross River during the 2011 elections. Nkoyo Toyo is an expert in governance with membership in many feminist groups and one of the conveners of the “10 Thousand Women’s March” in Abuja, organized by the Women4Women He4She movement to address issues affecting women.

Education

In 1974, Nkoyo graduated from Union Secondary School and proceeded to study law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Kaduna in 1975. In 1980, Nkoyo Toyo graduated from the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar Association. She subsequently obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of Lagos in 1994. For her passion and work in advancing the status of women in Nigerian public life, Nkoyo was granted the Chevening Scholarship to study at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, where she received an Masters in Governance in 2001. From 2020 to 2021, she received a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.