Born 19 February 1946, Florence Ita Giwa was elected Senator for the Cross River South constituency of Cross River State, Nigeria at the start of the Nigerian Fourth Republic, running on the All People’s Party (APP) platform. She held office from May 1999 to May 2003.
Ita-Giwa was born in Atabong, Bakassi LGA, Cross River State. She attended the Kilburn Polytechnic in London, United Kingdom.
She became a nurse, then a representative for the Beecham pharmaceutical company, after which she moved to Standall Pharmaceutical, where she represented Lagos State.
She married Dele Giwa, the founding Editor of Newswatch magazine. They were married for only 10 months, after which Dele Giwa married Olufunmi Olaniyan, who was married to him until his death in 1986.
Ita-Giwa joined politics and emerged as NRC chairman for Delta State. Thereafter, she was elected a member of the Federal House of Representatives 1992-93, and was a member of the committee on devolution of power constituent assembly 1994-95.
She became involved in Bakassi affairs, and earned the nickname “Mama Bakassi”. Ita-Giwa was elected Senator for the Cross River South constituency in April 1999 and was appointed to committees on Rules and Procedures, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Women, Niger Delta and Drug & Narcotics.
After leaving the senate in 2003, she joined the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and became President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters.
In May 2010 there were rumours that funds were missing from the account of the Bakassi Resettlement Committee, chaired by her.
