UNESCO and 62m illiterate Nigerians
Recently, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) disclosed that more than 62 million Nigerians are illiterate. According to international education body, it will take no less than 58years of investment to eradicate illiteracy in the country, even with innovations like Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and other learning mechanisms. U8NESCO’s disclosure is coming barely three years after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2013 set by the United Nations for the eradication of illiteracy in the world. In fact, recent statistics reveal that aside the staggering 10.5 million children said to be out-of-school, some 60 million Nigerians cannot read and write. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, adult illiteracy rate in Nigeria stands at 60 percent. The implication of this is that more than 70percent of Nigerians are illiterates.
We are alarmed but definitely not surprised at these figures, given the shoddy and even dispassionate attitude of governments at all levels towards education in the country.
Unfortunately, this growing tribe of illiterate population is inimical to development, to say the least, even as it is common knowledge that no nation rises above the quality of its human capital.
For long, the increasing rate of illiteracy among Nigerians has continued to occupy prime place in national discourse, even when the authorities are doing nothing to ameliorate the situation. This is shameful. That Nigeria ranks, as one of the countries with the highest level of illiteracy, coupled with the fact that it had the highest number of out-of-school children in the world is both embarrassing and unacceptable. Such indictment is eloquent testimony of the fact that Nigeria’s educational policies, over the years, have failed to achieve the desired results.
The stubbornly high illiteracy level is only symptomatic of the poor funding accorded education. Going by UNESCO’s benchmark every country must provide 26 per cent of its annual budget for education. Sadly, that of Nigeria is between a measly 10-13 per cent. The stark statistics of illiteracy among Nigerians is a call to action. It is therefore pertinent that the Federal Government and all stakeholders in the education sector come up with far reaching policies to tackle this national embarrassment. We are saying this because past governments are known to abandon the policies of their predecessors with intention of spiting them.
Such short sightedness is responsible for the present sorry pass in the education sector. There is no denying the fact that for Nigeria to tackle the myriad of challenges confronting her, she must urgently arrest the rising illiteracy among the population. Moreover, to successfully confront poverty, disease, religious fanaticism, political chaos, ethnic bigotry, gender discrimination, economic depression among others, there must be concerted efforts to enhance the literacy level in the country.
To achieve this, all governments must budget adequate resources for education. Equally, literacy inclined groups and other related NGOs should step up activities and campaigns to increase awareness towards the importance of literacy. Without a doubt, literacy is essential to individual and societal development. For a society to attain sustainable development, social development and environmental integration, literacy is one of the required key elements.
