Nigeria faces an estimated $5 billion annual economic loss — about 1.2 per cent of GDP — due to illiteracy, according to a World Literacy Foundation (WLF) report.
The study links low literacy to reduced productivity, higher crime, and weaker investment inflows, reigniting debates over the country’s education system and development prospects.
The discussion gained prominence following 17-year-old Nafisat Abdullahi Aminu from Yobe State winning the 2025 Global English Proficiency Competition, highlighting a stark contrast between individual brilliance and widespread literacy deficits.
Data from UNICEF and the World Bank reveal that 65–75 per cent of Nigerian school children struggle with basic reading and comprehension, with rural areas particularly affected. The National Bureau of Statistics adds that only 34.9 per cent of rural children can count from 1 to 20.
While the WLF estimates billions lost annually, analysts caution that high youth unemployment and underutilised educated populations may exaggerate the GDP impact.
“The main economic challenge is not illiteracy alone, but the lack of sufficient job creation,” said Prof. Ayisha Nwagu, labour economist at the University of Lagos. “You cannot lose productivity that was never being utilised in the first place.”
Nigeria needs 4.5 million new jobs annually to keep up with population growth. In 2016, however, only 187,226 jobs were created.
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“Estimating national GDP losses using literacy alone is tricky,” noted Dr. Olumide Fashoyin, Director of the Centre for Human Capital Metrics. “The WLF combines multiple assumptions and cross-country cmparisons that may not accurately reflect Nigeria’s unique labour market structure.”
WLF also links illiteracy to increased criminal activity and health expenditure, but national data tells a more complex story.
Between May 2023 and April 2024, Nigeria recorded 51.89 million crime incidents, with assault being the most common. Yet white-collar crime — which typically requires education and technical expertise — costs Nigeria far more.
The country ranks sixth globally on the 2023 White-Collar Crime Index (7.28), and loses $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows, representing 20 percent of Africa’s total.
“The data doesn’t support the idea that illiteracy is responsible for the most expensive crimes,” argued security analyst, Hassan Idris. “The real financial haemorrhage comes from fraud, corruption, and illicit flows — crimes perpetrated by the highly educated.”
Analysts also question links between illiteracy and crime or health costs, noting that white-collar crimes and risky health behaviours often involve educated Nigerians, while government health spending remains low at 5.18 per cent of the 2025 budget.
Still, analysts agree the report underscores Nigeria’s urgent need to invest in foundational literacy. “Success stories like Nafisat should be normal, not exceptional,” said Prof. Nwagu. “Ignoring illiteracy’s economic and social cost threatens the country’s ability to compete globally.”
As the government remains largely silent on the WLF findings, experts insist that ignoring the cost of illiteracy is no longer an option — not for a country hoping to compete in a global knowledge economy.