The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult Education and Non-Formal Education, Professor Simon Ibor Akpama, said they had launched programs to help reduce the more than 90 million of illiterate adults in the country.

Professor Akpama, who said this at a workshop on “Driving and Monitoring Learning Achievement in 36 States and the FCT”, said that by reducing the embarrassing number of illiterates, a number programs such as the Literacy on the Road to Economic Empowerment Strategy (LEEDS) have been put in place not only to educate, but also to reduce poverty.

He said learners are equipped with skills in barbering, fashion design and saloon, and upon completion they are given starter kits to help them set up their own businesses.

“It will reduce poverty and create jobs in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s poverty alleviation oriented government.”

Speaking on the workshop, the Executive Secretary said that tracking learning outcomes in the non-formal education sub-sector in the 36 states and the FCT forms the central focus and center around the workshops.

The monitoring program undertaken by the commission will involve the assessment of a total of 1,500 learners in each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at 60 centers nationwide.

Professor Akpama said: “Our economy is knowledge-driven, hence the urgent need to use qualitative and quantitative assessment and assessment tools to ensure that the NMEC enhances the knowledge and skills that our young people and adult learners are equipped – such as literacy, numeracy, life skills, problem-solving skills, etc.”

He said programs must be monitored and evaluated through the rigorous process of a combination of data collection and analysis and evaluation to determine how well our goals are being achieved.

During her speech, the monitoring and evaluation director of the commission, Maryam Umar Khalid, said that the workshop was aimed at assessing post-literacy learners, adding that field workers are trained to collect information about what learners learn.

She said they are training 100 participants and 18 of them would be in Kano, 59 for North-Central and FCT and 23 for South-South, South-West and South-East in the first phase which includes 20 states.