The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said 75 percent of Nigerian children aged between seven and 14 years cannot read a simple sentence or solve a basic mathematics problem.
The UN Agency said this on Tuesday in a statement by its Country Representative, Ms Christian Munduate, to mark this year’s International Day of Education.
In her speech, Munduate said, “I join the global call to ‘invest in people, prioritize education’ and urge Nigeria to deliver on the commitments made by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari at the UN Secretary General’s Transforming Education Summit in September 2022 to end the global learning crisis.
“In Nigeria, 75 percent of children aged 7 to 14 years cannot read a simple sentence or solve a basic math problem. For children to be able to read to learn, they must be able to learn to read in the first three years of schooling.
“I commit UNICEF’s support the government of Nigeria’s commitment to transform education and to prevent the loss of hard-fought gains in getting children into school, particularly poor, rural children and girls and ensuring that they remain in school, complete their education and achieve to their full potential.”
