A literacy survey conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO has revealed that about 65 million Nigerians cannot read and write.
Dr Mohammed Alkali, National Programme Advisor on Education, UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja disclosed this during an advocacy visit to Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State.
He said that with basic reading and writing skills, it is possible to lift people out of poverty.
His words ; “just nine months of literacy increases a person’s earning by up to 10 per cent.”
While lamenting the poor funding of the informal education sector, he urged political office holders to summon the political will to recruit and pay UNESCO trained facilitators.
He added that UNESCO is collaborating with National Mass Education Commission (NMEC) on a project to revitalise adult and youth literacy with the goal of reducing Nigerian illiteracy rate by between five to six million youths and adults.
Dr. Alkali also said that the project was developed with “strategic partnerships initiatives sharing responsibilities between UNESCO, Federal Government, states and local government areas to achieve the target results.”
He urged Katsina State to improve the remunerations of their mass literacy facilitators who presently earn below the national benchmark of 7500 naira per month.
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