Oqilov was born in
Khujand in 1944. He began working in the
Sughd veloyat in 1960. He attended the Moscow Institute for Engineering and Construction, graduating in 1967. He left the Sughd veloyat in 1976 to work for the
Communist Party of Tajikistan, with which he remained involved until 1993. He was appointed Minister of Construction in 1993. The following year, he was made vice premier of Tajikistan. He served in that position until 1996, when he returned to the Sughd veloyat as first deputy chair in June. He was appointed
Prime Minister of Tajikistan in December 1999. ==Notes==