The Abysmal State of Literacy Rates in Nigeria

Nigeria's Elites Have failed

I recently came across a Twitter post by AfricaFactsZone (AFZ) that showed literacy rates in each state of Nigeria. The data, sourced from a 2017 National Bureau of Statistics report, defines literacy as the percentage of people aged 15 and above who can read, write, and understand simple expressions in any language, not just English. The findings are alarming, but there hasn't been enough public outrage among Nigerians. The presentation of the data doesn't highlight the severe state of literacy and cognitive skills across the country. So, I decided to visualize this data on a map and share it here.

Here is the original bar chart from the Twitter post, along with a map of Nigeria, so you can match each state to its literacy rate.

First, let’s address the elephant in the room.

Regional Gaps Show Nigeria Isn't Ready to Progress

According to UNESCO (2015), Nigeria’s literacy rate is approximately 60%. This figure might have risen to 63%, but it conceals significant regional gaps.

The median literacy rate in the South is about 89%, while in the North (including the FCT Abuja, the nation's capital), it is around 34%.

Therefore, if Northern and Southern Nigeria were separate countries, Southern Nigeria would be comparable to North and Southern Africa, while Northern Nigeria is comparable to the countries of the Sahel region.

The differences between Northern and Southern Nigeria are well known to all Nigerians, those who follow Nigerian geopolitics, and possibly anyone with Nigerian friends.

Much attention is rightly given to the religious and ethnic divisions (Christian South vs. Muslim North, Hausa-Fulani vs. Igbo vs. Yoruba, etc.) in the country, which have posed significant challenges to development and have been a source of conflict, strife, and political headaches. However, beyond the frequently noted observation that the South is wealthier than the North, more attention needs to be focused on the development gap between the two regions.

Although Southern Nigeria is developing, its growth and progress lag behind those of comparable developing regions in Southeast Asia. Despite this, it outperforms the North on nearly every socio-economic indicator (GDP per capita, university entrance scores, HDI, out-of-school children, births per woman, percentage of people in extreme poverty, and more), as well as other measures of societal progress.

If Northern and Southern Nigeria were separate countries, multiple statistics would show that the South is comparable to Jamaica, Indonesia, or Morocco, while Northern Nigeria would resemble a larger version of Niger, Chad, or Somalia.

Nigeria’s issues cannot be resolved without an honest conversation about this disparity. The country's elites must work together and dedicate substantial efforts and resources to closing this gap without holding back the rest of the country.

With that out of the way, it is time to rant.

Misplaced Priorities

Like citizens of other developing countries, Nigerians fall for the trap of shiny infrastructure. People often judge politicians by the number of infrastructure projects they build, which sometimes leads to ridiculously wasteful spending on white elephant projects.

It is common to hear stories of airports where flights barely take off, football stadiums that rarely fill even a quarter of their capacity (despite tickets being free or very cheap), and large conference centers that have been built in the middle of nowhere that aim to host “World Business Leaders” to showcase doing business in that state. A few years ago, a politician even went as far as constructing statues of various African leaders, many of whom were not Nigerian. Among these statues was one of Jacob Zuma, the former South African president, who was embroiled in a corruption scandal at the time.

All this has gone on while essential infrastructure development, such as rural roads, irrigation canals, sewage systems, and pipes for clean drinking and bathing water, has been neglected. Even worse, the country has systematically underfunded healthcare and education for decades.

When discussing education, Nigerians often lament the decline by pointing to dilapidated universities and outdated curriculums. However, not many of those who have these discussions focus on basic literacy. Given the current situation, there is no excuse for not demanding that Nigeria’s leadership declare a state of emergency in the education sector. A nation with an adult literacy rate of around 60–65%¹ cannot develop in the modern era. It's impossible.

One common misconception in Nigeria is the delusion of grandeur that the country is somehow destined for greatness due to its population size and that it is the next China. Consequently, many intellectuals in the country and some in the development community believe that if Nigeria were to simply mimic China's path by opening up to the world through low-level manufacturing and exports, it would achieve similar success. This line of thinking has led to investments in Special Economic Zones and plans to build ports along the coastal areas of the country. While I agree that Nigeria needs greater integration into the global economy and should pursue a trade-oriented, "export-discipline" development model, I believe we are putting the cart before the horse when it comes to our reasoning about China’s development.

The Way Forward

China’s development story did not begin in 1978; it started much earlier under Mao during the communist era. Before China opened up, many foundational steps were taken to improve human capital and general healthcare, which positioned the Chinese favorably to seize opportunities during the era of globalization. These are steps that Nigeria (and many other African countries) have not yet taken.

Under Communism, China made significant efforts to educate a large portion of the population with basic primary and early secondary education. They introduced "barefoot doctors" to improve rural healthcare and took many other actions to enhance health and general human capital. People often forget that China, in the 1960s—when it had GDP per capita figures worse than many countries in Africa—developed a nuclear bomb. This achievement indicates a base level of skill and human development that only existed because of earlier efforts to improve education.

The key here is the development of human capital. This is what truly matters. It is a crucial component for industrialization. A competent and disciplined workforce, combined with a well-executed development plan, has been the formula for lifting countries out of poverty and into rich nation status over the last 50–70 years.

For Nigeria to develop, it needs serious solutions to its human capital problem, starting with addressing basic literacy.

1. More emphasis on primary and secondary education, especially in Northern Nigeria. This is crucial because low literacy rates and substandard education are at the root of many of the issues Nigeria faces (this applies to Africa as a whole).

2. There needs to be an adult literacy campaign. Given the high level of religious adherence in the country, religious institutions can be enlisted to support efforts to help adult Nigerians improve their literacy.

3. Nigeria needs to embrace IQ and cognitive testing as a tool for educational development.

P.S. I have additional thoughts to expand on the three solutions listed above. I've done some research and need to gather and organize my writing. I will flesh this out over the next few days.

Thanks for reading my first post! Sorry for any errors in this write-up and I would love to hear what you guys think.

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1. According to Charlie Robertson in The Time Traveling Economist, when looking at historical data, he observed that a country cannot grow sustainably unless it achieves 40% adult literacy, and cannot industrialize unless literacy levels reach 70–80%.