Nigeria still has 54 million illiterates —FG

THE Federal Government, on Tuesday, revealed that based on recent reports, over 54million Nigerians, out of the estimated 180 million population cannot read and write. 

Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Hindatu Abdullahi, who made this known in Abuja, at the flag-off of the 2015 International Literacy Day celebration, called for concerted efforts to improve the negative trend. 

This was against the backdrop of revelation by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), that over 757 million adults worldwide still lacked basic literacy skills, with about two-third of them beingwomen, mostly from Nigeria and other third-world countries. 
Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, in her message to mark the 2015 International Literacy Day, lamented that the number of out-of-school children and adolescents was on the rise, standing at 124 million worldwide.  
Abdullahi, in her speech, recalled that Nigeria in 2000,  joined the rest of theworld to commit itself to the six Education For All (EFA) goals and later the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which had 2015 as deadline for achieving their set targets. 
She said: “Regrettably, a global review of achievements and challenges of EFA since inception shows that some of the targets remain unattained, especially in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.   
According to her, the 2013/2014 Global Monitoring Report (GMR) showed that countries like Brazil, China, Indonesia have attained 90 per cent  literacy rate, while Egypt and India had about 70†to 89 per cent. 
But she said Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan had literacy rate of less than 70 per cent. 
Her words: “Recent review of E-9 countries, a group to which Nigeria belongs, shows that Brazil, China, Indonesia have attained 90 per cent  literacy rate, Egypt and India 70 per cent to 89 per cent, while Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan have literacy rate of less than 70 per cent.”
She noted that past governments generally gave more attention and resources to formal education programmes than the non-formal sub-sector, which accounted for a larger number of illiterate adults and out-of-school youths. 
In her remarks, Director-General of the UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova, called formore investment and effective policies to embed action for literacy within wider development policies. 
She further stressed the need for the Federal Government to prioritise education, as this would bring about sustainable development across the country. 

METRO