Abuja: Nigeria is set to make literate around 40 million people in the next four years, a minister said.

Minister for Education Nyesom Wike said the country will target 10 million people yearly, Xinhua reported.

He said the measure was necessary to address the low literacy rate in the country and its negative implications.

Unesco has designated Sep 8 to be observed every year as the International Literacy Day.

The beneficiaries of the literacy programme would be those who had been marginalised in the education system by circumstances beyond their control, the minister said.

Vulnerable groups such as young girls, women, nomads, migrants, street children and Quran students known as "almajiris" would benefit by the programme, he said.

With a population of 158 million, Nigeria has a literacy rate of nearly 70 percent.

 

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Picture of the Day

The 27th of Ramadan (August 26, 2011 this year), "Laylet al-Qadr" (Night of Power), is one of the holiest nights of the Islamic calendar, the night when the Quran began to be revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Millions from around the world visit the Grand Mosque in Makkah from all over the world and pray over the night.