By Jonathan Jolly
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education Taraba State, Alh. Idris A. Goje, Ag. Chairperson, TSUBEB, Mrs Rabi Sunday and the Secretary Mass Education, Mr Abdulmumuni Sanda attended a two day meeting on youth and adult literacy in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Honourable Minister of State for Education, HON. DR. TANKO YUSUF SUNUNU addressed the participants and his statement reads “It is my honor and privilege to address our esteem critical stakeholders, most especially Permanent Secretaries, State Ministries of Education (SMoE), Executive Chairmen, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Executive Directors, State Agencies for Adult and Non-Formal Education (SAANFE), Representatives of Ministries, Departments and other Agencies present. International Development Partners including: UNESCO, UNICEF. ACTION-AID, WORLD BANK, NGOS, USAID, NCAE, COMMUNITY CONNECT and Rescue International to this unique event tagged; National Stakeholders Engagement towards Achieving Pillar 4 of the Education For RENEWED HOPE: Road Map for the Nigerian Educator Sector 2024-2027”.
He added that “As you are all aware, Adult and Non-Formal Education is globally recognized as one of the most critical sub-sector in Education all over the world. Hence, it is difficult to expect meaningful development without literacy which is one of the components of adult and non-Formal Education. Literacy involves the acquisition of skills by people which are necessary for effective and productive performance within the society”.
The meeting was organized by the Network, Partnership and Mobilization unit in the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education.
One of the mandates of the Commission is to formulate and issue policy guidelines on all matters relating to Adult and Non-Formal Education activities in Nigeria and also develop partnership and collaboration on Adult and Non-Formal programmes with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Non-Govermental Organizations (NGOs) including International Development Partners (IDPs).
The Commission convened all National Stakeholders for a meeting in order to garner support of key stakeholders and policy makers, create access to quality literacy programmes, strengthen effective collaboration with sister MDAs. NGOs, and IDPs, and also seek the buy-in of key actors at the State-level for more funding and support for the programmes of the Non-Formal Education Sector.
The meeting was to also actualize and accelerate the performance of Pillar 4 within the 13 Pillars of the Nigerian Education Sector Roadmap (2024-2027) which is the implementation of Youth and Adult Literacy.
