The Federal Government has solicited stakeholders’ collective engagement to close the literacy gaps among youths and adults in the country.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, made the appeal at a National Stakeholders’ Engagement on Achieving Youth and Adult Literacy in Abuja.
The event, organised by the National Commission For Mass Literacy, Adult and Non- Formal Education (NMEC) has the theme: “Addressing the Challenges of Data Collection, Out-of-School Children/Youths.”
A report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Yobe had the lowest literacy level of 7.23 per cent in 2017, Zamfara 19.16 per cent, Katsina 10.36 per cent and Sokoto 15.01 per cent.
The report shows that Southern states were far better with Imo the highest with 96.43 per cent, Lagos 96.3 per cent, Ekiti 95.79 per cent, and Rivers 95.76 per cent.
The minister, however, said that there must be an holistic approach towards improving the quality of knowledge and certificate given to the adults and non-formal schools.
“The stakeholders engagement is to carry everybody along and get the buying in of all Nigerians.
“The way forward for us is to pay attention to education and this is not only for children but holistic in adults and non-formal education and this education must be backed with certification.
”We are trying to see how we can improve the quality of knowledge and certificate that can be given to our adults and non-formal schools.
“We also want to incorporate skills acquisition into it so that they can also have skills,” he said.(NAN)
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