2009 - Strikes Compound Woes of Education Sector.

Byline: Olubusuyi Adenipekun

The ability of the current Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Ominyi Egwu to come up with a Roadmap for the Nigerian education sector a few weeks after the removal of his immediate predecessor, Dr. Aja Mwachukwu gave the impression that the nation's education sector in 2009 would fare better than previous years which are characterised by neglect, poor funding, non-implementation of policies, unnecessary bureaucratic bottlenecks and sheer selfishness on the part of those implementing policies.

But the euphoria which attended the public presentation of the Roadmap, a document that articulates the strategies for addressing the multi-faceted problems bedeviling the sector, was short-lived. The first litmus test came from the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) when it declared an indefinite strike action from February 25, 2009 in all the states that were yet to implement the enhanced Teachers Peculiar Allowance (TPA) of 27.5 per cent salary increase.

As a result, all public primary and secondary …