- Civil Society Coalition protests discontinuation of federal funding for adult and mass literacy education, emphasizing negative impact on illiteracy
- Coalition urges President Tinubu to reverse decision and continue budgetary support for essential agencies like NMEC
The Civil Society Coalition for Transparency and Good Governance has protested the federal government’s decision to discontinue funding for adult and mass literacy education in the country.
The federal government recently announced its approval for the elimination of budgetary allocations to professional bodies and councils, including the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC), beginning in 2024.
However, the coalition’s convener, Comrade Victor Udo, stated at a press conference in Abuja on Friday that discontinuing funding for adult and mass literacy education in the country would have a negative impact on the country’s ability to combat illiteracy.
While applauding the federal government for its decision to defund professional bodies and revenue-generating councils, the coalition expressed surprise and concern that agencies with mandates to provide mass literacy, adult and non-formal education were included on the list of agencies to be defunded beginning in 2024.
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 urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the appropriate authorities, as a matter of urgency and national importance, to continue 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, claiming that the body had performed the important task of eliminating illiteracy in the country.