By Adebayo Abubakar
The Director General/Chief Executive Officer of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, MINILS, Comrade Issa Aremu, has attributed the failure of dialogue in resolving conflicts to a low level of literacy.
Aremu who was represented by the Chief Librarian of MINILS, Mr Joel, made the attribution, at the International Literacy Day, held today, at the National Library of Nigeria, NLN, Kwara State Branch Office, where he expressed his delight at being a part of the celebration, with the NLN and Artisan Congress, as they celebrated the United Nation’s declared International Literacy Day, 2022.
The “United Nations International Literacy Day”, was declared and first marked in 1967 to enhance and harmonised global efforts to grant access to equitable and affordable education, and this year’s theme is titled; “Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces: Possibilities and Opportunities,
He made reference to the fact that United Nations stats shows that 89% of all current conflicts are occurring in countries where dialogue is failing. Furthermore, about 771 million young people and adults are still illiterate.
Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. Invariably, effective communication is at the heart of literacy which strengthens harmonious living, enhances productivity and entrenches peace, while breakdown in communication does contrarily.
The former Labour Party’s Gubernatorial candidate in Kwara State, said, the whole initiative of the programme is in line with the mandate of MINILS, which coincidentally, is the 17th goal of the sustainable development goals, SDGs, and that, “partnership for the goals” shows the need for MINILS to open up her training, educational and entrepreneurship programmes to workers and young minds.
