The year 2000 would be Eldorado year for Nigerians. It is full of expectations and assurances. "Houses for all by the year 2000". "Food for all by the year 2000". "Education for all by the year 2000". These are some of the slogans used by government officials to assuage the worries of Nigerians and assure them that better days lie ahead in the year 2000. But beyond this high-flying rhetoric and wishful thinking is the reality that no meaningful development can take place in a country like Nigeria, where the majority of the people are illiterate. Javier Perez de Cuellar, the former Secretary General of the United Nations observed[1]:
Illiteracy is not only an obstacle to effective participation in society: in much of the developing world, where mass illiteracy is rife, it constitutes a threat to the progress of society itself with all that entails in suffering, deprivation, and missed opportunities.
Illiteracy is a disease that inhibits productive use of knowledge, skills and cultivation of the right attitude to work.
It is in recognition of the incalculable damage which this high level of illiteracy is doing to the social, economic, political and technological development of Nigeria that mass literacy campaigns were launched by the Federal Government in September 1982. The short-term objective of the programme was to reduce the level of illiteracy; while in the long term it was aimed at eradicating illiteracy in Nigeria by the year 2000. Towards this end, a number of government agencies such as the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education; Agency for Mass Literacy campaigns etc., were established to oversee the eradication of illiteracy in Nigeria. Also fundraising and other literacy promotion activities were organized to give visibility to the campaign programme. But despite these efforts, the Government has not considered using the potential power of the library for its mass literacy campaigns drive. The library could and should be an important instrument of such campaigns. Developed countries such as Britain, the United States of America, and the former Soviet Union have used and are still using the library to promote literacy in their countries.
In this article, the role of the library in the promotion of literacy is discussed. Approaches on how to use the library for mass literacy campaigns in Nigeria are also suggested.
LITERACY AND MASS LITERACY CAMPAIGNS IN NIGERIA
What is literacy?
The term literacy is vague and has defied a universally accepted definition. This is because it has differing characteristics which vary from one country and individual to another. It is a relative term subject to different interpretations depending on which contexts or from which perspectives it is being viewed. In 1968, the General Assembly of UNESCO[2], adopted the following definition:
A person is literate when he has acquired the essential knowledge and skills which enable him to engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in his group and community and whose attainment in reading, writing and arithmetic make it possible for him to contribute to use these skills towards his own and the community's development.
Literacy is a transition from the world of ignorance to the world of "objective knowledge", in which the individual, through the ability to read and write, acquires knowledge and skills to develop the natural potential and capabilities for enhanced productivity and a better standard of living.
As noted earlier, literacy is a relative term and no individual can claim to be literate in the absolute sense of the word. For the term to have meaning, it must be related to a specific form of knowledge and skill. For example, computer literacy, language literacy, nuclear literacy, singing literacy, mathematical literacy, etc. All these express different types of literacy; But no matter what the type, the ability to interact with recorded knowledge is common to all forms of literacy. This is because since we invented writing and left behind the oral-aural stage of transmitting knowledge, writing has been found to be the most popular, convenient and effective means of transmitting and preserving knowledge. Therefore, before people can be literate they must be able to read and write in the popular form by which knowledge is communicated and preserved in the community.
However, one has to point out that the acquisition of literacy traits does not in itself make one literate. These traits must be used towards positive development, changes in attitudes and behaviours. They must be used towards achieving a better standard of living through increased productivity. In other words, for literacy to have meaning it must be functional and dynamic, not cosmetic literacy described by Amadi[3]. The following view on this is illuminating:
Literacy therefore, is not an end in itself; it is essentially an intermediary and instrumental goal, and thus serv