“Key Facts About Ghana’s First Female Vice President”

Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, born on November 22, 1951, in Cape Coast, Ghana, is a former Minister for Education in Ghana. She was appointed to this position in 2013 by President John Mahama following the 2012 Ghanaian general election and served until January 2017 when the Nana Akufo-Addo administration took office. She is a member of the National Democratic Congress.

Professor Opoku-Agyemang is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and was the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state university in the country. She assumed her position on October 1, 2008, succeeding Emmanuel Addow-Obeng. Opoku-Agyemang completed her secondary education at Anglican Girls’ Secondary School in Koforidua and Aburi Presby Girls’ School, later attending Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast from 1964 to 1971. She earned a Bachelor of Education (Hons) in English and French from the University of Cape Coast in 1977 and later obtained her Master’s and Doctorate degrees from York University in Toronto, Canada, in 1980 and 1986, respectively.

Starting in 1986, she began her teaching career at the University of Cape Coast, where she held various academic positions, including Head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Warden of Adehye Hall and the Valco Trust Fund Postgraduate Hostel, and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research. Since 1997, she has served as the Academic Director of the School for International Training in the History and Cultures of the African Diaspora. From 2008 to 2012, she was the Vice-Chancellor of the university.

In March 2007, Opoku-Agyemang was one of five scholars chosen to give presentations during the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. In October 2009, she was elected as Ghana’s representative to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Ahead of the 2012 general elections, she moderated a debate between Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and other candidates.

As the Education Minister from February 2013 to January 2017, Opoku-Agyemang has received several honors, including honorary degrees from the University of the West Indies and Winston-Salem University, as well as an award for Global Leadership from the University of South Florida in Tampa.