Nigeria - Nonformal Education

Nigeria has an illiteracy rate close to 50 percent. The government spends a lot of effort promoting nationwide literacy and life-skills programs. Each state has agencies that also offer programs. The Agency for Mass Education in Lagos has set up 310 mass literacy centers around the state, which served 9,088 learners in 2000. They also have established 73 postprimary continuing education centers with almost 1,000 teachers.

Some universities are major forces in community education. The Adult Education Department of the University of Ibadan, for example, has won international prizes for its community-based programs to teach literacy in rural areas. The Department set up a Community Development Literacy and Health program in 1989 that evolved into the University Village Association, which promotes and offers money for literacy classes and small-business start-ups.