Chinwe Obaji is a

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

lecturer, teacher and education administrator who was appointed to hea
Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Education
in June 2005 as Senior Minister, and was succeeded a year later by

Obiageli Ezekwesili Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili (born 28 April 1963) is a Nigerian economic policy expert, an advocate for transparency, accountability, good governance and human capital development, a humanitarian and an activist. She is a former vice president for ...

Background

Chinwe Obaji was born in Ezinihitte-Mbaise in

Imo State Imo () is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its name from the Imo R ...

. She graduated from the

University of Nigeria, Nsukka A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

in 1975. From 1980 she was a lecturer and administrator at

Michael Okpara College of Agriculture Imo State Polytechnic is a higher educational institution in Omuma, Imo State, Nigeria. It was established in 1978 as the Michael Okpara College of Agriculture, Umuagwo and was upgraded to a Polytechnic status, renamed as the Imo State Polytechni ...

, Umuagwo,

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Ministerial position

Chinwe Obaji was the first female education Minister in Nigeria. As the Education Minister, she made efforts to resuscitate the Inspectorate Division of the Federal Ministry of Education. She started the one-meal-a-day project in some pilot primary schools across the country. She directed that Universities should administer the Post University Matriculation Examination to candidate students in an effort by bypass the inefficiency of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Notably, in support of her directive. However, there was controversy over the fees charged by universities for the test. In an October 2005 meeting between the Federal Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, it was unanimously agreed to peg the test fee at N1,000. Answering questions in the House of Representative in November 2005, Chinwe Obaji said that any university that collected more than N1,000 from candidates seeking admission after the post JAMB screening had done so in violation of her directive. The House of Representations later cancelled the directive. In April 2006, Chinwe Obaji detailed reforms to the design of the basic education system to ensure that every Nigerian child at least has access to basic education. The government set up a system of reprimanding parents who do not register their children for school, and started to recruit 40,000 teachers for rural communities. She stated that the Universal Basic Education (UBE) program aimed at enhancing "unhindered access to quality basic education to the children, especially to the girl-child".

Subsequent positions

Dr Chinwe Obaji was appointed Professor of International Education at the

Voorhees College Voorhees University (formerly Voorhees College) is a private historically black university in Denmark, South Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and School ...

in the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

starting in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obaji, Chinwe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Education ministers of Nigeria Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians Nigerian women academics Women government ministers of Nigeria Igbo people Igbo educators