Naija Focus: Nigeria’s Literacy Crisis

josh A. D

Imo Literacy

In a survey conducted in 2024 by StatiSense, Imo came out on top with the highest literacy rate in Nigeria, with a rate of 83.5% of young women, aged 15-24 years, being able to read. It has maintained this spot in 2025, with a literacy rate of 96.43%.

This comes after efforts from Governor Hope Uzodinma to strengthen education initiatives in the region. He has initiated state funding for three universities and two tertiary institutions, as well as establishing science labs in primary schools around the state. 

These initiatives continue. This year, his administration also partnered with UNICEF to train 200 teachers and principals across 100 public schools on digital literacy. The training also included the distribution of a free internet router to each of the schools. This was a part of the UNICEF initiative, Nigeria Learning Passport. The program was first widened during the 2019 pandemic in order to ameliorate gaps in learning and development from school closures. The program expanded nationally in 2022 and now boasts 2.4 million enrolled across the country.

Imo has also led the way for safer schools, amidst a kidnapping crisis that particularly impacts schools in northern regions. In September 2026, the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, and non-governmental organizations partnered to launch the Presidential Safe School Initiative in Imo. This was developed to protect schools against mass kidnappings and insecurity, in an effort to maintain a safer learning environment in schools.

Nigerian Literacy

Nigeria has a literacy crisis writ large, with major discrepancies when ranked globally. According to a 2015 study conducted by UNICEF, Nigerian young women, aged 15-24, have a literacy rate of just 63%, compared to 87% globally. The study also showed the wealth gap correlates with literacy rates. The poorest quantile was found to have a 22% literacy rate in young women aged 15-24, while the richest quantile was found to have a 94% literacy rate.

There is a general upward trend towards literacy over time. Since the 2015 study, there have been strides made to improve the literacy rate. The World Bank found the adult literacy rate (those aged 15 or higher who can read a sentence) for Nigeria to be just 58% in 2016. This was raised to 70% in 2024.

The literacy rate among women, although steadily rising, is not as high. According to the same study conducted by the World Bank, the rate was just 49% in 2016, and rose to 62% in 2024. The literacy rate among young women, aged 15-24, was 67% in 2016, rising to 81% in 2024.

These literacy rates are particularly poor in the northern regions of Nigeria, where socioeconomic factors such as insecurity from school kidnappings proliferate. According to the Daily Trust, “the country’s Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said in May this year that the North-West and North-East regions have recorded the lowest literacy and numeracy rates nationwide, despite receiving 80 per cent of Nigeria’s education donor funding over the past 10 years.” In addition, the literacy crisis is particularly pronounced among the youth in Nigeria. Approximately three out of four Nigerian children cannot read a simple sentence by the age of 10 years old, according to studies from UNICEF Nigeria and the World Bank.

American Literacy: A comparative analysis

A study conducted by Hachette Book Group found a correlation between literacy and access to libraries. Libraries are essential third spaces. They exist to bolster the communities in which they live. Their function is imperative amidst a populace where the youth are struggling to meet reading and writing benchmarks.

Literacy and arithmetic scores decreased in the United States from 2013 to 2021, when social media usage began rising among adolescents, according to the Education Scorecard, a joint research study by Harvard and Stanford University. The study shows this was only further worsened by the pandemic.

States are finally beginning to see incremental rises in math and reading scores since the end of the pandemic, according to the same study. However, with less infrastructure, such as well-funded libraries to learn in, this can create an unstable environment for students. In addition, with the correlation between literacy and access to libraries, it seems all the more important to maintain them properly.

As free speech is on the decline and book bans span across schools and even some libraries, it is imperative to protect such institutions of learning and growth.

Government Action

Many countries have taken a hit in regard to literacy rates since the pandemic. In Nigeria, the pandemic, coupled with insecurity, kidnappings, poor government funding in the public school system, and poverty compounds to create a literacy crisis.

According to a 2024 study published in the Bera Journal Review of Education, approximately 20 million children are currently out of school (not attending primary or secondary school) in Nigeria. The study recommended revisiting the Universal Basic Education Act of 2004 as well as a yearly audit of government spending on education initiatives.

According to the World Literacy Foundation, institutional efforts to build systems that improve teaching methods are paramount to success in the classroom. “Seventy percent of children in [low- and middle-income countries] cannot read and understand simple, age-appropriate text, as noted in the 2022 World Bank State of Global Learning Poverty report… Failure to use evidence-based approaches to instruction is one of the main causes of the literacy crisis, but improving how teachers teach can change this.”

This is a dire crisis that must be addressed with further efforts to ensure educational strides are being made, specifically during primary school years.