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Atiku Advocates Mobile Technology Use to Conquer Illiteracy
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former vice president of Nigeria, has advocated the use of mobile technology to conquer illiteracy in the country.
Posting on his website, http://atiku.org/aa/, he said that, for centuries, reading and writing was the privilege of the few, the upper class and those obliged by religious duty.
Atiku highlighted that, yet the ability to read is the world’s most empowering tool without which participation in a healthy democracy is extremely limited.
According to him, “Today, a literate, educated and informed citizenry forms the backbone of democracy – the peoples’ government.
Reflecting further, he said, “In Nigeria, unfortunately and inexcusably, we are headed in the wrong direction. Here at home, rates of illiteracy are on the rise as a result of prolonged instability and insecurity. Last week, the Executive Secretary of the National Mass Education Commission (NMEC) Alhaji Jibrin Paiko revealed that Nigeria’s illiteracy rate has continued to rise with roughly 56 million illiterate adults.
“Nigeria cannot hope to achieve a successful democratic transition, without first equipping its people with the tools of participation and empowerment.
Addressing insecurity and terrorism does not have to come at the expense of progress in education and infrastructure. In fact, all of these things are so intrinsically related that both must be addressed simultaneously in order to achieve enduring results.
“With Education we have employment, paired with infrastructure we have a Nation that is not open to violence that comes from frustration and that over time leads to a vulnerability to violent extremists.
“Research has shown that many young people participate in organized crime and terrorism as a result of their disenfranchisement and disempowerment. I can see how easy it would be for a person with little to no education and limited prospects for economic security to be seduced into extremism and begin to harbor resentment for a system that has failed them. In order to quell the appeal of criminality, we must work to build a system that promotes progress, creates opportunity and ensures safety and is built on a foundation of freedom and justice for all”.
He said that the fundamental problem with literacy in Nigeria is the lack of printed text and books available.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Nigeria has one library for every 1.3 million people, meeting less than 1 percent of its book needs.
The process of designing, printing, binding and shipping books is a costly endeavor, making printed text prohibitively expensive. Not to mention, books are fragile and easily destroyed.
Atiku added that, “Today, there are new, cost-effective innovations that can be harnessed to deliver text to students, teachers and readers worldwide. In 2013, UNESCO, in partnership with Nokia, began work within Nigeria to expand a mobile educational platform called “English Teacher”, which sends teachers educational content and messages with lesson plans and advice once a day.
“UNESCO found that mobile phones were the most effective way to get text into the hands of the people after finding that “of the estimated 7 billion people on Earth, over 6 billion now have access to a working mobile phone.”
It is important to note that Worldreader Mobile (WRM), another organization working with UNESCO, is a non-profit on a mission to bring e-books to “every child and her family.”
Worldreader allows people to access books and stories from mobile phones and works with local authors to digitize their work in order to provide culturally relevant material to their consumers.
The most attractive aspect of e-readers is that they can reach users of all ages and genders, confronting illiteracy across the board.
“Nigeria can and must take advantage of and harness these opportunities and technological advancements, but federal and local officials need to lay the groundwork. Mobile applications for reading are not enough to teach literacy on their own, but rather provide access to text that did not exist before. Teachers are as significant as ever in their ability to interact face-to-face with students and teach the basics of language.
“Literacy is transformative: it increases earning potential, decreases inequality, improves health outcomes and breaks the cycle of poverty. Our people can and must benefit from an aggressive literacy program that will not only seek to educate the masses for their participation in an effective democracy, but also seek to reengage disenfranchised persons and reduce the number of people turning to criminality to earn a living,” the former vice president said.
Two Nigerian lawyers have sued promoters of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) over allegations of electoral fraud and unlawful use of personal data.
The legal actions follow the recent election conducted by the NLS, a breakaway association formed as an alternative to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to elect its national officers.
In one of the suits, marked FHC/ABJ/05/1506/2025 and filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, a lawyer, Timothy Tersugh Ahua, is challenging the conduct of the election and the legitimacy of the electoral process.
Ahua named several NLS promoters, including prominent lawyers, as defendants.
They include Senior Advocates, Chief Mela Audu Nunghe, Dr. Ugoji Eze, Secretary of the NLS Electoral Committee, and Chief Bolaji, Chairman of the NLS.
Others named in the suit are Ferguson Chioma Blessing, Chief Emeka Ichoku, and Tejumola Adigun.
Citing provisions of the Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules, Ahua is asking the court to declare that the NLS electoral process violated its constitution.
He is seeking a declaration that all unopposed candidates, including himself, be declared elected, as published by Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, the alternate Chairman of the NLS Electoral Committee.
Ahua claims he was duly nominated for the position of Secretary General but was unjustly excluded, accusing the defendants of hand-picking candidates in breach of the rules.
He further alleged that the exclusion caused him financial loss, reputational damage, and personal hardship, urging the court to correct what he described as a grave injustice.
In a separate suit before the Federal High Court in Abeokuta, another lawyer, Oluwadare Thomas, sued Chief Mela Nunghe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Ugoji Eze, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), over alleged violation of his data privacy rights.
Thomas is asking the court to determine whether the use and publication of his personal data by NLS election officials without his consent amounts to a breach of Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
He also wants the court to consider whether the use of the NLS name for the election, despite a CAC notice and a pending suit, constitutes contempt of court and abuse of legal process.
He is seeking several declaratory and injunctive reliefs, including a court order restraining the continued use of his personal data and an order compelling NITDA and NDPC to investigate and sanction the respondents.
Thomas is also demanding N50m in compensation for the alleged unlawful processing and exposure of his personal information.
The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has congratulated Chief Owolabi Salis on his successful space flight. He becomes the first person of Nigerian birth to travel to space.
Chief Salis privately funded his space mission, demonstrating the deep interest of Nigerians to participate in scientific, exploratory, tourism and commercial space activities. His achievement highlights new opportunities for private sector engagement in space Program.
This milestone brings significant international attention to Nigeria’s space program, capabilities, while positioning the nation among countries where citizens actively participate in space activities.
In a statement signed by Dr. Felix Ale, director, Media and Corporate Communications, NASRDA, stated that chief Salis’s successful mission represents one pathway for Nigerian space participation. “His achievement complements NASRDA’s ongoing efforts to expand access to space exploration for Nigerian citizens.
“NASRDA received notification of Chief Salis’s mission through our partner organization, Space Research and Exploration Agency (SERA), prior to the flight. His success demonstrates the expanding opportunities now available to Nigerians in the space sector.
“However, it must be emphasized that the NASRDA-SERA collaborative mission, announced in June 2024, remains on course for an upcoming Blue Origin flight. This program represents a different pathway, providing opportunities for broader Nigerian participation through open competition.
“Our collaborative mission will enable Nigerian citizens to participate in astronaut selection and contribute to the development of research proposals. Eligibility extends to all Nigerian citizens aged 18 and above through transparent, merit-based selection criteria.
“Research priorities for the NASRDA-SERA mission will also be determined through public input from Nigerian citizens. This approach ensures the mission addresses national priorities identified by Nigerian citizens,” the statement added.
The application portal for the NASRDA-SERA program will open in the coming weeks. Detailed application procedures will be announced prior to the portal’s activation.
NASRDA celebrates Chief Salis’s contribution to raising awareness about space exploration opportunities for Nigerians. His private investment demonstrates the practical commitment of Nigerian citizens to advancing our national space participation.
Chief Salis’s achievement marks a defining moment for Nigeria’s space ambitions. Nigeria now has both private citizens and government programs actively pursuing space exploration, positioning the nation as an active participant in the global space economy.
For additional information regarding NASRDA programs or the SERA collaborative mission, contact the agency’s Media and Corporate Communication Department.
The Nigerian Insurers Association has urged the House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions to respect the constitutional separation of powers as it carries out a probe on over 20 insurance firms.
In a statement on Tuesday night, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of NIA, Mrs Bola Odukale, said the decision of NIA and the affected firms to approach the court was to seek clarity on the constitutional limits of the House Committee’s probe.
It would be recalled that the House of Representatives on Monday is investigating no fewer than 25 insurance companies operating in the country for various financial infractions spanning financial reporting, claims settlement, premium remittance, and issuance of policies.
The Chairman, House Sub-Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Kwamoti Laori, during a meeting with the management of the insurance companies at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, said the meeting was convened following the receipt of a petition on infractions by the insurance companies.
In the statement, Odukale said, “The Association wishes to state unequivocally that all actions taken by the NIA and the affected member companies in response to the Committee’s invitations and pronouncements were based entirely on legal advice by its Solicitors. It was on the firm instruction of legal counsel that recourse was made to the courts.
“The objective of approaching the Court is to seek judicial guidance on the legality, propriety, and constitutional limits of the Committee’s intervention in order to safeguard institutional integrity, uphold regulatory independence, and ensure that legislative oversight remains within the bounds of law.
“The Court action seeks to determine whether the current posture of the Committee reflects an exercise of legislative judgment, which, by constitutional design, is the exclusive province of statutory regulators, such as the National Insurance Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigerian Exchange, Financial Reporting Council, Nigeria Data Protection Commission, and the National Information Technology Development Agency.
“This raises serious questions about legislative overreach and an erosion of the doctrine of separation of powers, a cornerstone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.”
Odukale maintained that the NIA was committed to lawful and constructive engagement with all arms of government, provided that such engagement respects the autonomy of statutory regulators and the boundaries established by the Constitution.
“The NIA will continue to provide its full support to all member companies while upholding the principles of legal compliance and sector-wide integrity,” Odukale concluded.
17 of the companies that went to court were represented by their lawyer, Mr Abimbola Kayode, at the meeting with the committee.
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