Sensitization visits to a local govt community to promote the Lagos State Adult Literacy program held on June 16

Yesterday we held the 1st in a series of sensitization visits to a local govt community to promote the Lagos State Adult Literacy program. Consider this: Number of Illiterates in Nigeria = 54 million. South Africa population size =53 million.

Illiteracy has social and economic implications that cannot be overlooked. While our literacy rate (hovering between 87%- 89%) is relatively high, Lagos still has an army of 3 million illiterates we cannot ignore.

The Agency for Mass Education (AME) is responsible for implementing Adult Literacy programmes for the State, among other activities. In the last few years, AME has set up about 541 Literacy Centers across the State and successfully graduated 10,000 adult learners. While we celebrate successes, we recognize the need to quickly scale up and raise the literacy rate in the State.

At the current pace and scale, it would take 300 years to graduate 3 million adult learners in Lagos State. With these realizations in view, AME is embarking on an initiative to raise the literacy rate to 95% over the next 3 years. For Lagos to work for all, all must have access. Literacy is key to unlocking that access. Let’s learn together!