The Federal Government has restated its unwavering commitment to the elimination of all forms of illiteracy from the nation through harnessing its high level partnership with local and international development partners.
Speaking through the Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike in Abuja on Tuesday when he granted audience to the Director, Bureau for the Development of Education in Africa, BREDA, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Dr. Ann-Therese Ndog-Jatta stated that there is no way meaningful development can take place in the face of illiteracy.
He stated that the administration’s programmes in the areas of Almajiri, girl-child, boy-child, adult literacy and non-formal education programmes are all geared towards eradicating all forms of illiteracy from the nation.
He said; “If previous administrations had worked towards eradicating illiteracy the way President Goodluck Jonathan has done in the past two years, we would have substantially tackled this challenge.
“However, I am happy we are making serious progress with our direct partnership with UNESCO and we shall continue to build on the successes already recorded.”
Barr. Wike noted with satisfaction the train-the-trainer programme being executed by UNESCO for the Federal Ministry of Education, pointing out that the programme will help in building capacity of literacy facilitators across the country.
He said that the programme is also aimed at re-vitalizing adult literacy with emphasis on skills development and wealth creation for the empowerment of less privileged Nigerians. He assured UNESCO that the Federal Ministry of Education will lead advocacy and awareness creation to state governors and the private sector to ensure that they key into the need to support the efforts of the administration in improving the literacy level of the Nigerian people.
He added that the Federal Ministry of Education will also link up with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to request the wives of state governors to actively participate in adult/youth literacy programmes.
“We still appeal to UNESCO to continue to extend more technical support to us in the area of elimination of illiteracy in our nation. By next year, we shall increase the level of funding for literacy programmes and all mass literacy agencies will be galvanized to take the efforts of the administration to improve our literacy to the next level”, Wike said.
Earlier, the Director of the Bureau for the Development of Education in Africa, BREDA, Dr. Ann-Therese Ndog-Jatta while commending the Federal Government for sponsoring the training programmes being organized by UNESCO, declared that with improved commitment from states and local governments, illiteracy can be completely eradicated from the nation.
She said that with the population of Nigeria, if the illiteracy challenge is tackled in the country, it would go a long way in helping in the development of the region. She urged the Federal Ministry of Education to work towards engaging the governors and local governments to pay more attention to literacy programmes.
