A Brief Perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals

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THE ROLE OF LITERACY IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROWTH OF NIGERIA

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THE ROLE OF LITERACY IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROWTH OF NIGERIA 

INTRODUCTION
The world today is witnessing rapid changes in all spheres of life, ranging from education, governance, economic, social, cultural and information technology. Education, formal or informal is considered an instrumental and powerful tool for the socio-economic advancement of any nation. The role of literacy in the development of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Arguably, the concept of literacy and economic development are intertwined and fundamental to sustainable economic development.  The socio-economic growth of Nigeria is bedeviled by poor infrastructure facility, weak industrial capacity, low literacy level among others. These problems continue to hinder the economic growth and development of Nigeria therefore resulting to stunted human growth and development and the overall well-being of Nigerians. 

This paper examines literacy as an indispensable tool for the achievement of the socio-economic development of Nigeria. This paper highlights the concept of literacy, the concept of socio-economic development, the impact of literacy on our socio-economic development as well as the problems associated with low literacy level in Nigeria. 

THE CONCEPT OF LITERACY 
According to the data as published by Statista, Nigeria's literacy rate stood at around 62 percent in 2018. Since 1991, the percentage of adult population aged 15 years and older in Nigeria who were literate experienced a general increase, except for a decline in 2008.

The term literacy has various definitions as highlighted by different scholars and international organizations or assessment programmes. According to the definition by UNESCO. “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts”. The definition by UNESCO in this contemporary world is quite narrow because in today’s world, literacy is a complex term with wide range of applications. Scholars opine that literacy is manifested by individuals in different disciplines such as in computer literacy, critical literacy, cultural literacy, political literacy and others.

Literacy as defined by Merriam-Webster as the quality or state of being literate.

 Makandawile in his article “How Literacy can enhance socio-economic Development in a Community, defines literacy to entail one’s ability to manifest a skill in a particular field in order to adapt to the environment. This includes a wide range of skills including the conventional literacy of reading and writing”.

European Literacy Policy Network: European Declaration of the Right to Literacy defines literacy as “the ability to read and write at a level whereby individuals can effectively understand and use written communication in all media (print or electronic), including digital literacy”.

According to OECD: Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), literacy can be defined as “understanding, evaluating, using and engaging with written text to participate in the society, to achieve one's goals and to develop one's knowledge and potential”.

World Bank: Skills Towards Employability and Productivity (STEP), defines literacy to mean “the ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, to overcome obstacles by taking thought.”

Alberta Education defines literacy as “the ability, confidence and willingness to engage with language to acquire, construct and communicate meaning in all aspects of daily living”

Types of literacy includes:
-        Digital literacy
-        Media literacy
-        Critical literacy
-        Informational literacy
-        Scientific literacy
-        Financial literacy
-        Cultural literacy. 

These definitions above identify that literacy involves the ability to understand and communicate. 

THE CONCEPT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
What does socio-economic development mean? The concept of socio-economic development has been defined in different ways and in different contexts. The concept of socio-economic development grew out of arguments that the economic growth of any nation is predicated on the overall well-being of its populace for such growth to be appreciated. 

“In the socio-economic context, development means the improvement of people’s lifestyles through improved education, incomes, skills development and employment. It is the process of economic and social transformation based on cultural and environmental factors”. 

Agricultural & Environmental Data Archive (AEDA) defines socio-economic development as the process of social and economic development in a society. Socio-economic development is measured with indicators, such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy and levels of employment. 

Onyeka and Oyebamji in their article “Adult Education for Meaningful Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria”, defined socio-economic development to mean “economic growth accompanied by social transformation of human beings and society. It is a growth in the economy which leads to the satisfaction of human needs for improved human well-being”.

There are several indicators as opined by scholars that measure the socio-economic growth of any nation and these indices include: improved standard of living; improved levels of awareness or literacy; improved production capacities; transition from primary to secondary production; improved infrastructural base; good governance; presence of basic amenities, presence of improved social services, etc.

LITERACY AS A TOOL FOR SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
 The concept of literacy and socio-economic development are intertwined in relation to the growth and development of any nation. The literacy level of any country is fundamental to its development. For any nation to achieve sustainable growth, then a substantial amount of investment must be made towards human development. 

It is important to note that education enriches people’s understanding of themselves and the world, improvement in the quality of life which results in positive benefits to individuals and the society at large. Also, increased level of literacy results in increased productivity and creativity and promotes entrepreneurship and technological advances. 

‘Research shows that an increase in national income and per capita income is a function of increased level of literacy and that differences among nations can better be explained by differences in the endowment of human, rather than physical capital’.

Increased level of literacy is instrumental in combating the high rate of poverty in Nigeria. adequate investment in enhancing the literacy level of citizens either through formal or informal forms of education and vocational training would significantly impact the quality of life of the people which in turn would positively impact the socio-economic advancement of the nation. 

Increasing rate of literacy brings about a state of competition among different firms, industries and sectors of production, which helps an economy to grow on strong bases of competition. Increasing rate of literacy also helps to control and maintain population growth. 

An increased rate of literacy would be beneficial to ensure effective management of our resources as a nation. Effective resource management cannot be achieved unless all citizens (young and old alike) are educated to be aware of their individual roles in the process. Literacy should enable citizens, individually and collectively to identify societal problems and seek new and innovative ways to tackle these problems. 

Literacy in all its forms of existence as alphabetic, technological, computer, environmental, scientific, financial, mathematical, health etc is a pre-condition for meaningful socio-economic development to occur. Literacy provides citizens with the opportunity and foundation to acquire the knowledge and understanding of their civic rights and responsibilities, knowledge of health tips to live healthy, technical and vocational skills to drive the economy and the right types of attitudes, norms, values, morals required for a society to progress in the positive direction.

 To catalyze and sustain industrialization and rapid economic growth, increased literacy level is pertinent to imbibe in individuals the relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to engage in productive efforts. 

 PROBLEMS OF LITERACY IN NIGERIA
Literacy level continue to witness a lot of problems that hampers it from assuming its position as an effective tool for socio-economic development in Nigeria. some of these problems are:

1. Lack of political will: Institutional frameworks for the implementation of literacy programmes have been provided by the government to boost literacy level in Nigeria.  But the will to match the declarations in the frameworks with actions is lacking. This may be because political leaders lack understanding of the relevance of literacy to national development. 

2. Poor budgetary provision: Education generally is poorly budgeted for in Nigeria’s annual budget. This invariably affects the educational sector. UNESCO recommends that 26% of every nation’s annual budget should be dedicated to education. However, over the years the Nigerian government have failed to meet up with the threshold. 

3. Lack of infrastructure: Infrastructure to implement literacy programmes is lacking due to poor funding. This continues to hinder progress in the achievement of the objectives of literacy programmes. 

4. Lack of trained personnel: There is paucity of trained personnel for the implementation of educational programmes in Nigeria. Teachers particularly at primary and secondary levels lack the requisite knowledge and skills to fully realize the objectives of literate programmes in Nigeria.  

5. Socio-cultural factors: traditional social structures that exist in a given society continue to hinder literacy especially among women and girls. The fear that western knowledge may lead to disruption of social relations, loss of traditional knowledge, norms, values, and customs particularly in the Northern part of Nigeria hampers literacy level. 

CONCLUSION
From the foregoing we understand that the high rate of illiteracy partly accounts for the low level of development in Nigeria. This is because the growth and development of any nation depend largely on the quantity and quality of all segments of its population. 

“Arguably, literacy is so critical to national development that it should, perhaps, be considered only as next to health because it is fundamental to the quality of life of the citizens”. To achieve sustainable development as a nation, government and relevant stakeholders must come together to enact and implement policies to boost the literacy level in Nigeria. 

 


REFERENCES
Caroline O. Olomukoro (2015). Influence of Literacy Education Programmes on Socio-economic Empowerment of Women in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. US-China Education Review B, Vol. 5, No. 5, 315-324. Retrieved April 21, 2022 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d133/e88b9564e0829839c4cc41bb144660dc89cf.pdf

Oko Ebuka (2019). The Role of Education in Economic Development in Nigeria. Retrieved April 21, 2022 from https://infoguidenigeria.com/role-education-economic-development-nigeria/ 

Mbalisi Onyeka and Morufu Oyebamiji (2015). Adult Education for Meaningful Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria. Journal of Social Science Studies, Vol. 2 (2), 199-213. Retrieved April 21, 2022 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279282935_Adult_Education_for_Meaningful_Socio-Economic_Development_in_Nigeria 

 Mkandawile Benson (2010).  How Literacy can enhance socio-economic Development in a Community. Article at the University of Zambia in Lusaka. Retrieved April 21, 2022 from https://sitwe.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/mkandawile-benson-2010-how-literacy-can-enhance-socio-economic-development-in-a-community-article-at-the-university-of-zambia-in-lusaka/ 

Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/1268372/literacy-rate-in-nigeria/#:~:text=Literacy%20rate%20in%20Nigeria%201991%2D2018&text=After%20a%20peak%20at%20over,for%20a%20decline%20in%202008. 

Silvia Montoya (2018). Defining literacy. UNESCO Institute for Statistics, GAML Fifth Meeting 17-18 October 2018 Hamburg, Germany. Retrieved April 24, 2022 from https://gaml.uis.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/4.6.1_07_4.6-defining-literacy.pdf 

Available at https://medium.com/literate-schools/literacy-in-todays-society-df8ee954ff3a 

Available at https://education.alberta.ca/literacy-and-numeracy/literacy/everyone/what-is-literacy/?searchMode=3 

Socio-Economic Development and Empowerment of Disadvantaged Groups, Contemporary India: Issues and Goals, Module 4. Retrieved April 26, 2022 from https://www.nios.ac.in/media/documents/SecSocSciCour/English/Lesson-25.pdf 

Caroline L. Eheazu, Ph.D (2019). Repositioning Adult Education To Boost Socio-Economic Transformation In Nigeria Through Inclusion Of Environmental Literacy, International Journal of Education, Learning and Development, Vol.7 (9) , pp.63-77, September 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2022 from https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Repositioning-Adult-Education-to-Boost-Socio-Economic-Transformation-in-Nigeria-through-Inclusion-of-Environmental-Literacy.pdf 


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