- Citizens’ right to basic education must not be denied or delayed
Nigeria now has between 65 and 75 million illiterates. While the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) Director-General, Irina Bokova, put the figure at 65 million illiterates, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said it is between 65 and 75 million Even with 65 million illiterates in Nigeria 57 years after independence, the situation is alarming and should worry those in charge of governance in the country.
Signs that rate of illiteracy is growing in the country are too obvious. Along public highways, a common sight for motorists is a horde of children of school-age pushing their wares into moving vehicles during school hours. The picture in regular markets is the same, with swarms of boys of school-age begging to be hired to carry purchases for customers for N100 per load. In addition, boys and girls that should be in school beg for alms in urban areas or assist older people to beg.
Reasons for the high figure of illiterates in a world in which education has become the major source of improvement of the human condition are obvious. One, for 10 continuous years, Nigeria has failed to spend up to 50 per cent of the minimum of 26 per cent of budget on education to meet UNESCO’s recommendations on how to pull out developing countries from poverty and illiteracy. For example, in 2016, Nigeria’s Federal Government spent 6.01 per cent (N367.73 billion out of a budget of N6.1 trillion) on education while the states spent 10.70 per cent (N653.53 billion) of their budgets on education. The total percentage spent on education in the country in 2016 was 8.01 per cent, a far cry from the 26 per cent of budget recommended by UNESCO.
In addition, many schools across the country, including in states that were known even before independence to be aggressive about giving modern education to citizens have no roofed classrooms; many rural communities in the 774 local governments have no school buildings; and cultural leaders in many states express philosophical objection to education of the girl- child. Further, the country has been unable for over half a century of independence to make basic education compulsory nationally.
But no country has produced more inspiring words about the importance of literacy than Nigeria. Even while commenting on UNESCO figures on illiteracy in the country, the Minister of Education aptly observed: “Education is the bedrock of any country’s development and any country that does not educate its populace is bound to fail.”
What has been lacking is not the right words about what to do but the capacity of governments in the country to walk their talk with respect to the need to give all citizens the basic knowledge with which to negotiate life in a modern world. It is high time the governments guaranteed the right of access to basic education of every child—male and female. States with free meals for primary schools seem to have taken the right action to increase enrolment and retention, but ensuring that children of school-age are given assured access to basic education until they turn 17 or18 is a social right that must not be denied by any government. It is unrealistic to expect that a population of 180 million people can depend on efforts of private schools to provide functional literacy. In all the countries that are succeeding in the 21st century, public education is a significant part of that success.
Thus, Nigeria ought to feel endangered that about half of its population is illiterate in a fast-moving technological global space and time. Creating and sustaining access to public school education for every child is the place to start addressing the problem of raising millions of citizens who cannot read, write, and compute in the 21st century. There is an urgent need for governments to provide adequate classrooms for children and make Universal Basic Education compulsory.
As enrollment must be followed by retention, governments need to invest immediately in provision of proper learning infrastructure: classrooms with qualified teachers; adequate supply of learning resources such as books, audio-visual learning aids, libraries, ICT facilities, and electricity to power modern learning facilities across the country. Furthermore, governments must revive and sustain adult or lifelong education to respond to citizens who have outgrown enrolling in regular schools. Nigeria needs to wake up to prepare its citizens for competition in the age of globalisation.
