In 20ll, the Lagos Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the Agency for Mass Education, embarked on a Literacy Survey to ascertain the literacy level of the State.
Their objective was to examine the literacy status of the citizenry, taking into account their age, sex, marital status, occupation and a host of other demographic and socioeconomic factors.
10,000 households were sampled using a two-stage stratified sampling technique, encompassing all 20 local government areas in the state.
The survey revealed that 90 % (16155,057) of the aged 5 and above population are literate in any language.
87% of the sampled respondents are literate in English (can read and write in English).
45% of these literate residents in English were males, while 42% were female.
Furthermore, more male household members were literate in English across all local governments in the State, except for Ibeju-Lekki, where 46% of females were literate in English instead of 41% of males.
The study also conducted an empirical analysis of household members to determine the proportion of Lagos residents who are literate in other languages besides English.
In the State, 75% of the sampled household members are literate in other languages (can read and write in other languages).
Amuwo Odofin and Lagos Island Local Governments reported 80% literate household members in other languages at the local government level.
You can get details of the report here.
Every year, World Literacy Day is celebrated on September 8 to raise awareness of literacy problems in our own communities and worldwide.
Founded by the proclamation of UNESCO in 1966, “to remind the public of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights.”
It aims to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and societies.
According to Simona Varrella, the highest literacy rates in Nigeria were registered in the country’s southern regions.
In the South West, 89 per cent of males and 80.6 per cent of females were literate as of 2018.
Also, the south zones showed the lowest percentage differences between male and female literacy.
The female literacy rate in Nigeria is among the highest in West Africa. The highest female literacy rates were registered in Cape Verde and Ghana, while Nigeria ranked third.
Lagos is home to the largest population in Nigeria, and I cannot help but imagine how the city would be if everyone could not read or write.
Although it’s home to the financial headquarters of Africa, the second largest when it comes to tech and, of course, the home of African entertainment, we still have a percentage of people who can’t read or write.
UNESCO lists Lagos’ literacy rate at 92, a quite impressive rate owning to many things, including the number of young people you could find in Lagos.
Lagos states have the highest percentage of youth in Nigeria constituting about 50% of the population.
Lagos state government have also pushed for literacy among its citizens.
Programmes have been set up to aid the education of children, youth and even the elderly.
LASU and Unilag, both state and federal universities in the state, are ranked in the world university ranking of 2021 between 501- 600.
What else can we do to help get to a hundred per cent;
- Donate a book
- Support governments or NGO programmes on educations
- know that illiteracy is a problem we all can solve and do our part.
Note: someone that can speak another language and write too is literate in that language. But English has become the universal language in Lagos. Let’s help someone today.
