HomeGeneral
General
False

NAFDAC director general inflates Nigeria’s illiteracy rate

Nurudeen Akewushola
Nurudeen Akewushola
Reading Time: 1 min.
NAFDAC DG, Mojisola Adeyeye

Share

See the sources for this fact-check

THE director general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, has claimed that about 56 per cent of Nigerians are illiterate.

Adeyeye made the statement during an interview with BusinessDay TV published on 5 October 2026, while discussing the misuse of pesticides and the need for farmers to understand instructions on agricultural chemicals.

“We are ignorant in this country. We are very ignorant, we don’t read, we don’t understand,” Adeyeye said.

“From farm to fork, there are many organisations involved. There are many agencies involved. NAFDAC mandate is for processed or semi processed foods.

“We have about 56% illiteracy… if it is a literate country they would read. Sometimes, our people don’t understand.”

CLAIM

Nigeria has an illiteracy rate of about 56 per cent.

FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

The General Household Survey-Panel Wave 5, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in 2023 and 2024, found that 60.9 per cent of Nigerians aged five years and above were literate. The survey defines literacy as the ability to read and write in English or another language at a level adequate for communication and comprehension.

Based on the NBS figure, about 39.1 per cent of Nigerians in the surveyed population were not literate, considerably lower than the 56 per cent claimed by Adeyeye.

The NBS data also shows that literacy varies considerably across the country. The national literacy rate was 60.9 per cent, it was considerably higher in urban areas, at 78.5 per cent, compared with 54 per cent in rural areas.

The latest figures, therefore, do not support a national illiteracy rate of 56 per cent.

Similarly, the World Bank defines adult literacy as the percentage of people aged 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short, simple statement about their everyday life. The indicator is sourced from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

The data shows that 70 per cent of Nigerians aged 15 and above were literate as of 2024. This corresponds to an adult illiteracy rate of about 30 per cent, significantly lower than the 56 per cent figure cited by Adeyeye.

The FactCheckHub could not find a publicly available national literacy dataset that supports the 56 per cent figure given by Adeyeye.

VERDICT

The claim that 56 per cent of Nigerians are illiterate is FALSE. Credible statistics shows that the figure is lower.

+ posts

Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here


Most Read

Recent Checks