…trains 376 enumerators on data collection from 36 states, FCT

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education (NMEC) has said it is contributing its quota towards national development by targeting 38 million illiterate Nigerians with its first batch of enrolling not less than 500,000 learners in its formal and non-formal education and training.

It revealed that its target are children from the age of 15 and above who have dropped out of school, and also adults, who never had the opportunity of being enrolled, but nurse interest of being educated, saying that the training will be all-encompassing to include reading and writing, as well as vocational training.

The Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. John Edeh, who spoke Tuesday in Abuja during the training of some of the 376 enumerators on data collection from the 36 states of the federation including the FCT, which has 250 facilitators, said this is a call to action as it is the first time the commission is embarking on such exercise after 15 years.

Attributing the protracted overhaul to lack of funds, Edeh said the enrolment, based on the non-formal approach for basic literary, and which will be done in batches, will have a duration of a minimum of six months and a maximum of nine.

He noted that while this is the first time the commission is receiving such swift attention and intervention in the face of mass literacy in the country, he applauded the efforts of the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Aisha Garba.

According to him, “This is a call for action and this is the first time that the commission will be embarking on this exercise after the one we did in 2010 for the national literacy survey. This is an opportunity for us to ensure that all those not in training are brought back to the formal learning centre through the non-formal training centre.

“The long gap has to do with the issue of funding. This is just an intervention and will not be enough for us to reach all the people that we are supposed to cover because of limited resources. We are talking about 38 million Nigerians that are not literate and we are only spending a few resources to make sure of those ones that we can bring on board. So we are targeting this number and will also be contributing to the highest number on non-literacy that we are facing in the country at the moment.

“In this enrolment, we are looking at a maximum of nine months and at the end, we should be able to say that the cases of 500,000 have been addressed. We will also take it further again and so it’s a step by step process. It’s a process we cannot just jettison and we need to commend the Minister of Education for his timely intervention because the project is being facilitated by the minister and UBEC. This is the first time they are ensuring that the sector receives immediate attention.

“Our coverage is focusing on all the 774 local government areas. This is the first training and after this, there will be bio-testing and afterwards we will look at the gaps to see what needs to be done to improve the instrument before we can go back to states and scale up.

“Already, we have un-boarded 376 enumerators in all the 36 states including the FCT and for FCT alone. We have un-boarded 250 facilitators that will be taking part in the exercise. They will all be monitored and we are working alongside NIMC and we will make sure that the ones we un-board are learning. We will make sure that he/she is captured for the purpose of tracking and follow-up.”

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