FIRST LADY OF NIGERIA SPEAKS AT UNESCO HEADQUARTERS

Nigeria's First Lady, Her Excellency: Mrs. Turai Yar'Adua [3rd from left] with Nigeria's Ambassador
and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO: Professor Michael Omolewa [2nd from left], Mr. Marcio Barbosa,
Deputy Director-General of UNESCO [4th from left] and Dr. [Mrs.] Mary Mbiro Khimulu, Kenya's
Ambassador to UNESCO and President of the Africa Group at UNESCO [1st from left].

Address by Her Excellency:
Hajiya [Mrs.] Turai Yar'Adua
Nigeria's First Lady; during her
visit to UNESCO Headquarters
Paris, France
Thursday 12 June, 2008

Deputy Director General of UNESCO

Assistant Director-General [Education]

Assistant Director-General [Africa]

Assistant Director-General [External Relations and Cooperation]

Assistant Director-General [Bureau of Strategic Planning]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to be here at UNESCO headquarters and meet with
officials of the organization which has been charged by the whole world to
promote Education, Science and Technology, Social and Human Sciences,
Culture, Communication and Information globally.

I bring you greetings from my husband Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, GCFR,
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the entire people of Nigeria.

I deliberately chose UNESCO as the first site of my visit during this first
official visit of my husband to France. UNESCO is dear to the hearts of
Nigerians because of the central role it plays in the advancement of education
and culture, in particular, in our Country, and we can not ignore its
contributions.

Today, please allow me to specifically address the subject of Adult Literacy
and the Girl Child Education. As you will recall, I had participated at the
celebration of the International Literacy Day in September 2007 when a Nigerian
NGO was awarded one of the UNESCO Literacy Prizes by the Director-General.
The celebration was part of the Literacy Conference convened on Literacy
Promotion for Africa by the First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs.
Laura Bush, in Bamako, Mali. You will agree with me that there is need for
us in Africa to host a follow-up meeting to review progress made since that
Bamako initiative and chart a course for the advancement of literacy in
Africa. Nigeria will be glad to be associated with UNESCO in taking this
important project forward.

Adult illiteracy has become a real problem in Nigeria as in many African
countries and other parts of the developing world. The Global Monitoring
Report and the Report of the 7th E-9 Ministerial Review Conference held in
Bali, Indonesia last March, have already suggested Nigeria among the countries
which may not achieve the Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015. You will
therefore now begin to understand why Nigeria requests an enhanced commitment
of UNESCO to adult literacy efforts in the country. It is of course true that
we have made considerable progress in the field but until every illiterate is
served we shall continue to invite UNESCO to support our efforts.

In addition to adult literacy there is the issue of Girl Child Education.
These two issues are central to the achievement of the EFA goals. That is
why I have decided to bring the subject to your attention and to invite UNESCO
to assist Nigeria in the realization of the attainment of the EFA goals. That
is also why I have specifically requested for a meeting on the subject which I
understand is being handled by the Education Sector of the Organization.

I also wish to be further informed on the processes of UNESCO's collaborative
assistance to NGOs because of my interest in the work of NGOs. As you perhaps
already know, I currently Chair a Non-governmental Organization called Women
and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) whose objectives include the
girl-child education. We believe that NGOs could be effective partners with
government in accelerating the pace of development of the world. I would seek
the intervention of UNESCO in this critical area.

Finally, I also gladly endorse the attention which this Organization accord
matters of women and youth. I understand that these two target populations
are among the priority areas of UNESCO. I would therefore like to move into
partnership with the Organization for the progress of its work. Let us join
hands for the purpose of covering the broader regions of Africa and beyond.

I congratulate UNESCO and encourage the Organization to continue its hard
work in favour of humanity until we achieve a peaceful world.

I thank you all.

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