Kayode Olanrewaju 
As Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark this year’s International Literacy Day, ZODML (Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries), has bemoaned the low level of literacy, particularly among children and adults in the country.
The Co-founder and Chairperson of ZODML, Mrs Ifeoma Esiri, who disclosed this at the National Library of Nigeria (NLN), Lagos office, during the celebration of this year’s International Literacy Day, said she was not impressed with the “very low rate” of literacy in Nigeria.
The event, which was attended by some selected 100 pupils and students from some primary and secondary schools in Lagos, was organised by ZODML, a Nigerian non-profit organisation, focused on promoting literacy, self-learning, and reading culture through libraries and an online platform, in collaboration with the National Library of Nigeria and the United Kingdom Book Aid International.
“The level of literacy generally, if we take the entire population of Nigeria, both adults and children, is very low and I am not impressed with the rate. Even in urban areas where you expect a high literacy level, a lot of children cannot read. And, even in Lagos which is one of the top states as far as education is concerned, there are still many pupils in the state who cannot read effectively,” she stated.
Addressing journalists on the sideline of the celebration, Mrs Esiri said the way out is that there should be more focus on the fact that there is a problem, because that when the country understands that there is a problem, we would begin to think around how this could be solved.
She, therefore, insisted that the government should begin to understand this fact that there is a problem with literacy in Nigeria, saying the government should allocate more funds to education at the national and state level so that adequate resources could be deployed, and teachers could be empowered for literacy programmes.
But, according to her, one of the biggest problems we have as a country is that when we talk about literacy we are only talking about learning, writing, reading and communicating in English, and this has been the big problem as we always equate literacy with only reading and writing in English Language.
To address this, Mrs Esiri, who said it is impossible for children in rural areas who do not understand or speak English Language to communicate in English, advocated the need to incorporate learning in indigenous languages in schools so that the children could read and write in their indigenous languages.
“This programme must be holistic, which must be integrated so that if children are beginning to learn, read and write in their indigenous languages, there will be a time when they will be able to transition from the indigenous languages to reading and writing effectively in English,” she noted.
Meanwhile, she expressed delight that the International Literacy Day allows collaboration as it has allowed ZODML to collaborate with the United Kingdom Book Aid International, and National Library of Nigeria (NLN), which had really helped the organisation, and also made the celebration more impactful as far as that is concerned.
However, the Deputy Director/ Head of Branch, National Library of Nigeria, Lagos, Mrs Onuorah Obianuju, while declaring open the event, listed the activities lined up to commemorate the Day to include, a pep talk on the importance of reading in the digital era, read aloud using different formats, interactive workshop, panel discussion on the theme of the day and many others.
While stating that the theme for the 2025 International Literacy Day was “Promoting Literacy in the Digital Era,” she explined that the Day was observed annually to remind the world that literacy is a fundamental human right and a pathway to dignity, opportunity and equality.
