Coalition kicks against defunding adult literacy

A group, Civil Society Coalition for Transparency and Good Governance, has kicked against the federal government’s move to stop funding adult and mass literacy education in the country.

The federal government had recently announced its approval for the discontinuation of budgetary allocations to professional bodies and councils effective 2024, among them, the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC).

But convener of the coalition, Comrade Victor Udo, at a briefing in Abuja on Friday, said discontinuing funding of adult and mass literacy education in the country would have a negative effect on the country in terms of addressing illiteracy.

While applauding the federal government for its decision to defund professional bodies and revenue-generating councils, the coalition said it was shocked and worried at the inclusion of agencies with a mandate to provide mass literacy, adult and non-formal education on the list of agencies to be defunded from 2024.

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Udo said, “We consider it as a mistake of immense proportions, as the rest of the world is devoting even more funds to eradicate illiteracy and its concomitant effect from their societies.

“With the high number of illiterate adult population in Nigeria, it is an anti-people policy for the federal government to defund any commission which performs one of the most important mandates among government institutions vis-à-vis eradicating illiteracy in our country.”

The coalition appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to as a matter of urgency and national importance, direct the appropriate authorities to sustain the continuation of the budgetary provision or allocation to all non-revenue generating agencies and commissions established by an act of parliament, including the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, saying, the body performed the important task of eliminating illiteracy in the country.