[size=14pt]Nigeria attains 56% literacy level[/size]

Minister of State for Educa-tion, Dr Jerry Agada, yesterday said 56 per cent of Nigeria's 140 million people had attained literacy level.



"Statistics indicate that about 56 per cent of the country's population are now literate, this means that only 44 per cent are still illiterate," he said.

Agada said this while speaking at the re-launch of the Read Campaign at Garki Junior Secondary School, Abuja.

He said the campaign was introduced in May, in a bid to restore the culture of reading and writing among citizens, adding that the campaign yielded some tangible results, as many Nigerians had started adopting the culture of reading and writing.

"Where we are today is a lot better than where we were before and this means that we have been able to achieve a significant progress in our campaign," he said, and pledged government's support for the campaign, because of its importance to the attainment of the targets of Education For All (EFA) by 2015.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign's re-launch coincided with the International Literacy Day celebration, which was marked all over the world yesterday.

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