There is no doubt that in any nation where the level of illiteracy is high the consequences are always grave. Nigeria is currently witnessing these consequences as a result of its inability to tackle the illiteracy debacle or not doing enough to nip it in the bud.
Looking at terrorism in Nigeria, it is basically the result of high rate of illiteracy. This is not necessarily the lack of Western education, but lack of education: religiously, politically, socially and economically.
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It is obvious that those who are being recruited to carry out these dastardly acts are manipulated by the lettered ones who take advantage of the unlettered ones.
In Nigeria, we have the Boko Haram group that has been spreading its doctrine in the North East without being properly checked. The group believes that Western education is un-Islamic and that anyone supporting its propagation is an infidel.
Recently, the activities of kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers and othere criminals have been prevalent in the North West. We also have the issue of herdsmen and farmers tearing the North Central and some parts of the South apart.
Viewing all these, it can be inferred that lack of proper education is the basis of the problems. The question now is; how would non-formal education be a solution to these problems?
Non-formal education complements formal education. In it we have adult education, basic and post-literacy education, continuing education, vocational and skills acquisition, among others.
As mentioned earlier, many of the perpetrators of these dastardly acts are uneducated. Some of them are out-of-school boys and girls and unlettered youths and adults.
Non-formal education is responsible for the eradication of illiteracy where formal education fails. The practitioners of this sector are the last hope to get mankind to be educated.
Therefore, it means that in a situation where one cannot acquire formal education, vocational or skills acquisition can stand in and save the situation, because a man skillful in tailoring and a woman who has the skill of hairdressing would not have time to be dragged into criminality.
Unfortunately, religious dogmatism happens to be the major weapon used to lure many into terrorism.
In a situation whereby non-formal education is employed by religious leaders to de-radicalise or disabuse people’s mind from the act of terrorism, definitely, there would be less of these incidents. Though there have been many efforts by government to tackle this menace, part of which was the building of almajiri schools by the immediate past government. This project would have been a success if not for some reasons. The failure of this project is not farfetched; it failed because the actual organisations who were supposed to be at the forefront of the project were not even carried along. It was a sad one for me when I saw these schools under lock and key on my way to Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, for the 2017 International Literacy Day. A few metres away from the school, there were children, youths and adults swimming and washing in a stream on a Monday morning while schools were in session. This pointed to the failure of that project.
There is still remedy and opportunity to revitalise the programme under the supervision of the proper organisation. These schools can be turned into non-formal learning centres; facilitators can be employed and with proper monitoring, this will go a long way in eradicating illiteracy in Nigeria.
In Nigeria, we have those who are saddled with the responsibility of eradicating illiteracy for sustainable development. We have the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) which can handle the education of out-of-school children, and adult and vocational education. We also have the Nomadic Education Commission (NEC) which can handle the herdsmen and farmers’ imbroglio through proper education, but these organisations have not been doing enough to help in curbing the current insecurity problem Nigeria is facing due to poor funding.
Any nation that aspires to develop needs to focus on education. It is not out of place if a substantial part of our budget is directed towards improving the education sector, especially the non-formal sub-sector. The sector is as good as education itself, and if properly harnessed, religious terrorism and criminal activities would be history.
Adenola can be reached – [email protected]
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