The Non-Governmental Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nineteen-Seventeen Northern Consensus Movement (NSNCM) to address challenges of out-of-school and girl-child education in Northern Nigeria.
The National President of NOGALSS, Noah Emmanuel, at the signing ceremony in Abuja on Monday, said the initiative would focus on the implementation of the Northern Community Literacy and Empowerment Initiative (NOCLEI).
Emmanuel said that NOGALSS recognised the significance of the project, noting that it has the potential impact it could bring to vulnerable populations in the country.
He said the MoU would lay the groundwork for a powerful collaboration that would uplift the lives of thousands in the northern community.
According to him, the objective is to create a sustainable framework for community empowerment, fueled by education, skills, and dignity.
“As we gather to adopt our MoU, solidify our Plan of Action, and inaugurate the standing committees that will drive our work forward, let us remember that our collaboration is not a privilege but a duty.
” A duty to the out-of-school child who dreams in silence. A duty to the Almajiri boy, whose only wealth is hope.
“A duty to the woman whose potential has never been tapped. A duty to the youth whose future depends on what we do here today, and every day after,” he said.
He said that true success would not lie in the number of documents signed or meetings held, but in the number of lives we change.
Emmanuel added that the objective of the MoU was to define the framework of cooperation and implementation strategies for NOCLEI.
He said that such was designed to expand access to literacy and non-formal education, provide inclusive and accessible learning opportunities for out-of-school children, youth, women, among others.
The president said the initiative would also strengthen vocational and entrepreneurial skills development, empower beneficiaries with practical skills and startup support to foster self-reliance, reduce unemployment, and boost micro-enterprise creation.
Dr Awwal Aliyu, the National President, NSNCM, emphasised that there could be no growth and development without literacy.
Aliyu explained that the collaborative effort aimed to improve literacy rates, empower women, promote girl-child education, and address the Almajiri syndrome, a widespread issue affecting thousands of children in the region.
He pledged the movement`s full commitment to the project, affirming its readiness to deploy all resources and efforts within the legal framework of Nigeria to ensure its success.
According to him, this initiative marks a hopeful turning point in the fight against educational marginalisation in Northern Nigeria and it promises a more inclusive future for generations to come.
“We shall give our all, our best, and do anything formally possible within the mandate of the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to ensure that we succeed,” he said. (NAN)
