The Federal Government says more than 8,000 learning centres have been established nationwide to expand access to adult literacy and non-formal education.
Dr John Edeh, the Director overseeing the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC), disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Edeh, who is also the Director of Literacy and Development, NMEC, said the centres were spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).
He added that the centers were designed to provide second-chance education opportunities for youths and adults who missed formal schooling.
According to him, additional centres are being opened under the Universal Basic Education intervention support fund to reach underserved communities.
“We have opened close to 136 learning centres in FCT alone. We have also opened more than 50 additional learning centres in each of the states.
“For instance, in Ibadan, where we have an office, we have opened additional 74 learning centres.
” In Owerri, where we also have an office, we have opened additional 64 learning centres; likewise, in Bauchi, Gombe, Akwa- Ibon, Kastina and Niger.
“Those are the additional learning centres that we have opened to complement the existing one,” he said.
Edeh noted that, although the centres currently serve less than one million learners, government was scaling up operations to enrol additional 50,000 to 100,000 learners within six months.
“Our target is to make sure that within the next six months, we will be able to bring back additional 50,000 to 100,000 of learners to our learning centres.
“We will make sure that we also graduate them and provide some starter packs for them, if they choose the path of vocational training,” he said.
The Director added that literacy programmes were now integrated with vocational skills to enhance economic empowerment of beneficiaries. (NAN)
