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Tag: NMEC

  • Commission donates vocational materials to correctional centers

    Commission donates vocational materials to correctional centers

    The National Commission for Mass-Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) has donated vocational skill materials and equipment to two correctional facilities in Southwest Nigeria.

    The Commission said the step became necessary to support vocational skill acquisition of inmates at Ilesha Correctional Facility in Osun State and Agodi Correctional Facility in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    While DCC Otubu Oluwatosin collected the materials on behalf of Agodi Correctional Facility, SC Ladesuji Adebowale collected the material for Ilesha Correctional Facility.

    The gesture was extended to the two correctional facilities during the Southwest zonal presentation of vocational skills materials and equipment to participants in the commission’s initiative tagged “Literacy through Economic Empowerment Strategy (LEES)”, held at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Ibadan.

    Thirty participants from Southwest states, including Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti, benefited from the initiative, receiving vocational skill materials and equipment worth millions of naira.

    Speaking at the event, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. John Ejeh Onimisi, said the LEES initiative aligned with goals 2, 4, and 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

    Onimisi maintained that the Commission developed the initiative after realizing that economic empowerment through vocational training is a potent tool to promote adult and non-formal education among Nigerians.

    The NMEC’s Acting Executive Secretary said preliminary mapping carried out by the commission revealed that 46 percent of 206,000 people sampled needed to be encouraged to embrace non-formal education through economic empowerment.

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    Onimisi explained that the initiative, which started last year, was targeted to reach out to many youths and adults without formal education in all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

    He urged state governments to replicate the commission’s initiative and complement its efforts in their respective states, stressing that Nigeria cannot move forward if informal education is neglected.

    Also in her remark, the HOD, Vocational and Continuing Education of the Commission, Nnenna Ejieji maintained that the initiative was to empowered youths and adults without formal education.

    She disclosed that the LEES initiative aimed to empower participants with vocational skills in five different areas: catering, fashion designing, shoe and bag making, barbing, and makeup.

    The Southwest Zonal Coordinator of the commission, Mrs. Funke Lawal, commended participants and urged them to make proper use of the vocational skill materials and equipment given to them.

  • NMEC trains data enumerators, eyes return of 500,000 out-of-school children to classrooms

    NMEC trains data enumerators, eyes return of 500,000 out-of-school children to classrooms

    The National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC) has commenced the training of enumerators on automated data collection tools aimed at addressing the challenges of out-of-school children.

    According to NMEC, Nigeria has more than 30 million non-literate adults as of 2021.

    Acting Executive Secretary of NMEC, Dr John Onimisi, said that the exercise was designed to return more than 500,000 learners in the first phase of the programme back to school.

    Speaking in an interview at the opening of a two-day training for enumerators, Onimisi said the enumerators are to capture data on youths aged 15 years and above who dropped out of school or never had the opportunity to continue their education.

    The NMEC chief noted that the emphasis of the programme was not only on literacy but also on vocational training.

    He said, “Our target is to ensure that these learners are enrolled on non-formal learning centres and are able to complete the programme successfully. Some may also transit to vocational programmes after completion.”

    Onimisi added that the initiative would cover all the 774 local government areas of the federation, noting that 376 enumerators from the 36 states and the FCT had been onboarded, while 250 facilitators would drive the exercise in Abuja.

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    He said that monitoring would be done in real-time through a dashboard linked to the National Identity Management System (NIMC), to ensure proper tracking and follow-up of learners.

    Onimisi said, “This is the first time since the 2010 National Literacy Survey that NMEC will be conducting such a large-scale data exercise, and the delay has largely been due to funding constraints.”

    The acting executive secretary said that the programme would run in phases, with the first literacy cycle lasting between six to nine months, depending on the contact hours.

    He commended the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for supporting the intervention, stressing that it marked a renewed government’s commitment to addressing the country’s literacy gaps.

    Also speaking, the Director of Program at NMEC, Mr Samuel Aziba, said the training would enable enumerators to use digital devices for data collection.

    Aziba added that pilot testing of the programme would begin in four locations within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before the nationwide rollout.