NMEC Puts Adult Illiteracy At 42.1%

The National Mass Education Commission (NMEC) has said Nigeria is yet to achieve Education for All (EFA) 2015,adding that 42.1 per cent adults of the 170 million populations in the country can neither read nor write.

The Commission Executive Secretary, Dr Jibrin Paiko, said the plan to get the sum of N12 billion to execute the EFA project failed, as only N1 billion was given by the Federal Government, while other stakeholders failed to contribute their counter part funding, a failure which the commission said is responsible for the nation’s inability to achieve EFA.

Speaking during a training programme organised by NMEC to facilitate its staff in helping communities manage literacy centres and provide resources, Paiko stressed the need for state governments to redouble their efforts towards improving mass literacy programmes in their domains.

Paiko said: “The plan was to get the sum of N12 billion, but only N1 billion came, and N11 billion was expected to come from other stakeholders, which include states, local governments, foundations, non-governmental organisations, development partners, companies, etc.
“But the Federal Government has done its part, and we are still battling to see that others key in, and this is a major challenge.”