Segun James
10 September 2007
Yenagoa — Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Mass-literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NCLAE), Dr Dayo Olagunju, has said more than 64 million Nigerians are illiterates, which is about 46 per cent of the population and over 60per cent of them are women.
Olagunju said this weekend, at an occasion to mark the United Nations' International Literacy Day, hosted by the Family Re-orientation, Education and Empowerment (FREE), held at Opukuma, in Bayelsa State.
Represented by Mrs Margaret Onoja, Olagunju said he was impressed with the great advancement recorded by FREE, which is founded by Mrs Alaire Alaibe in the area of gender education in five states of the Niger Delta in the last few years.
Olagunju said he would recommend the stride made by FREE to the federal and state government around the country as a model.
Chairman of the Non- Governmental Agency for Literacy Support Services (NOLGASS), Alhaji Usman Tahir, described the FREE facility as "wonderful," after he met with 30 women aged between 35 and 57 years who sat for the Junior Secondary School examination recently and moved into the senior secondary school stage this month.
Onoja said the team is very surprised at the magnitude of the FREE project, adding that if all NGOs operating gender education programmes embark on such projects, illiteracy in the country will reduce considerably.
Earlier, the Founder of FREE, Mrs. Alaire Alaibe, disclosed that FREE operates in five Niger Delta states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Delta and Rivers at 28 centres with 5000 students, majority of whom are women.
Alaibe said strength of the organization lies in its ability to work with leadership of women in the various communities and state it operates in. According to her, it was as a result of the great achievement of the FREE programme that the organization was given a UNESCO award recently, the first Nigerian NGO to be so honoured in 18 years.
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