Lagos, Nigeria – The Civil Empowerment & Rule of Law Support Initiative, CERLSI, has hailed the World Bank decision to launch a new initiative to promote literacy among children after a research indicated that there was that half of all children in low and middle income countries, and nearly 90% of all those living in sub-Saharan Africa are unable to read well by age 10.
In a statement after the World Bank plan on the literacy initiative, Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, CERLSI deputy executive director said that the decision of the World Bank attempt to raise the capacity of children to read is a step in the right direction, and basically ratifies CERLSI belief that there can be no meaningful path to good governance and the attainment of the rule of law if ordinary citizens, and especially children cannot read well.
‘Our Library excursion programme, LEP, was basically formatted to bridge the gap created by the failure of our educational. Parents and indeed the larger society need to realize that children in their formative years need to learn very early on to use the library. Matters are a little compounded that technology takes children away from libraries, and the fact that the UN has suddenly realized the damage low literacy has on its other goals, the better for us all’, Mr Etemiku said.
Recent reports credited to the Nigeria Population Commission, NPC, indicate that about 1312 infants die in every 1,000 births in Nigeria. And even though there are primary schools dotting the nooks and crannies of the Nigerian environment, most have no access to libraries, do not have adequate room for play and cannot use public transportation. Information available concerning the SDG 4 indicate that in 2015, an estimated 617 million children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age worldwide – more than 50 per cent – were not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics. Of these, about two thirds were attending school but were not learning in the classroom, or dropped out school
‘With the World Bank moving with a review of its own goals, it becomes imperative that our local and national governments invest more in the capacity building of our children. Children are the future, and investing in the capacity of children to read and write in their formative years is an investment in the future of Nigeria’, the CERLSI deputy executive director said.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
CEO, Bob MajiriOghene Communications, Nigeria
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