Dolapo Osinbajo tasks govt on illiteracy

Wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo, has called for collaborative effort between governments and non-governmental organisations to eradicate illiteracy in the country.

She made the appeal, yesterday, in Abuja, at a one-day private sector lunch in support of Revitalising Adult and Youth Literacy (RAYL), organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Osinbajo, who lamented that over 50 million Nigerians are illiterate, stressed the need for government to prioritise adult literacy, adding: “The programme is targeted at ensuring that all men and women, boys and girls, including persons with disabilities, and those in all manner of vulnerable situations and circumstances, have access to affordable education. Today’s meeting is a great step towards achieving this laudable goal.”

She explained that the programme has made remarkable achievement in three years, and commended Procter and Gamble for supporting the project with the sum of N1bn, to address women and girl-child education in the country.

The Director, UNESCO, Multi-Sectoral Regional Office, Dr. Benoit Sossou, explained that the programme has made positive impact on the target population by making 4,589,637 million people literate in 146 out of 774 local government areas between 2012 and 2015.

In his keynote address, chairman of RAYL National Programme Steering Committee, Prof. Gidado Tahir, said despite efforts by government, adult illiteracy has remained the most neglected component in the education sector.