Analysis of rural literacy as a panacea for socio-economy development of Nigeria

Abstract

Literacy is useful at the individual level in inculcating humanistic etiquettes and manners. The human benefits from literature are related to factors such as the improved self-esteem, empowerment, creativity and critical reflection that participation in adult literacy programmes and the practice of literacy may produce. Benefits human derive from literacy apart from ability to read and write or numerate include improved health, increased political participation and so on. Nigeria is the most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa and has estimated population of 158.4 million. Understanding the need for a literate society, the country has been involved with many activities aimed at providing access to literacy. However, there is disparity in access to literacy between urban and rural communities in Nigeria. The social and economic dimensions of providing education for the population, within the context of prevailing national circumstances of dwindling financial and other resources in the face of developments needs are heavy and investments in health, education and water supply have been focused largely on the cities. Despite phenomenal growth of the formal educational systems and the interest shown to non-formal education in the past decades, some members of the population are still found to be non-literate in Nigeria. Statistics of the 2006 census summary also reflect that a high percentage of rural dwellers including women do not have formal education. For the facts enumerated above, this study discusses the socio-economic need of rural literacy in the face of challenges that determined the rural people assessing educational opportunities. The paper also established the relationship that exists between rural and urban communities and concludes that for sustainable development of the rural communities, literacy must be able to attend to the livelihood and improvement skills of the people in the rural areas.

Assessment of the Use of Electronic Media by Farmers in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

“…The respondents in the study area were therefore educated, and could use electronic media to access information. This finding is in contrast to that of Olojede et al, 2013. With consideration to household size, most of the respondents (53.0%) had household size of 6-10 persons. This large household size gives the respondents the opportunity of utilizing family labour, leading to profit maximization in agricultural ventures.…”

An account of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Nigeria: implications and lessons learnt

“…The EVD outbreak is reported to have impacted negatively on the commercial activities of Lagos State [ 15 ]. The Lagos State hospitality industry reportedly lost over 8 billion Nigerian Naira between July and October 2014 due to plummeting hotel occupancy rates [ 3 ].…”

Comparative Study of Education Funding in Nigeria

“…As seen above, research efforts have focused on the thematic areas of poverty, inequality, and suggestions on improving economic growth. However, there has been a limited intervention on how increased public funding of education affects poverty (Abideen et al 2013;Mitana et al 2018). Thus, we are expanding the discussion to assess how the limited funding of education increases poverty levels in Nigeria.…”