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Education Minister says 60 million Nigerians cannot read or write, World Bank & UK wants to help

Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has expressed worries over the alarming rate of illiteracy in the country, saying about 60 million Nigerians, being 30% of the population, cannot read or write.

At the 2017 Nigeria’s Annual Education Conference titled: Achieving Inclusive Education through Innovative Strategies’, the Minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Sunny Echono, stated that Nigeria will not achieve its developmental aspirations until it tackles the high rate of illiteracy.

The Minister advised that focus should be more on females since they are about 60% of the population if the war on illiteracy is to be won.

“The most expedient approach is through selective, intensive and nationwide on-going campaign against illiteracy, targeting states and groups that have the highest levels of illiteracy, with girls and women as the main target.”

According to him, the importance of literacy centers also for adults is important in achieving the literacy goal.

“If a minimum of 10 literacy centres could be established in each of the 9,572 wards with each centre enrolling a maximum of 30 learners in two sessions per annum, 5.7 million adults would be made literate at the end of each year under the national literacy campaign. Thus, about 23 million people would be literate.”

The British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, said the UK government through the UKAid is helping to enforce sustainable development of teachers in Nigeria, ensuring they are properly educated.

He noted that UKaid will support 100,000 children in Yobe and Borno States, and 800,000 girls across the Federation, noting that about 40% of Nigerian Students attend private schools.

However, with the efforts put into the education sector, many Nigerians have asked if the high rate of illiteracy is as a result of those out of school or the inability of the teachers to educate those in school.

Following cases of failure on professional tests by some teachers, it comes as no surprise that the percentage of those who cannot read or write is on the increase.

Meanwhile, World Bank representative, Tunde Adekola, said the World Bank is to commence a project in Nigeria called ‘Education for All’.

“To achieve quality education, Nigeria needs more resources, so both state actors and non-actors should work together and the impact of financial funding will be greater. Openness, transparency and accountability is a major factor that will improve the education sector and this is not achievable without data,” he concluded.

Education got 7.04% of the 8.6 trillion naira 2018 budget, in contrast to 26% recommended by the United Nations.

The total sum allocated to the sector is N605.8 billion, with N435.1 billion for recurrent expenditure, N61.73 billion for capital expenditure and N109.06 billion for the Universal Basic Education Commission.

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