Lafarge Africa Plc has held the ‘National Literacy Competition’ in Nigeria since 2014 aimed at improving literacy levels of public primary school pupils in the country. Ahead of this year’s grand finale holding in Lagos on November 16, Folashade Ambrose-Medebem, Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development Director for Lafarge Africa Plc, speaks to ZEBULON AGOMUO, editor, and CHUKS OLUIGBO, assistant editor, on the objectives behind the competition, the journey so far, other similar projects by the company, among other issues. Below are excerpts:
When we talk of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in Nigeria, the mind easily goes to physical projects like the renovation of schools, sinking of boreholes in communities and such things. Why did Lafarge Africa decide on a literacy competition?
Let me take a step back and give you a bit of context first. Lafarge Africa Plc is committed to construction solutions. In the same vein, we are committed to ensuring that we adhere to our 2030 Plan to improve the quality of life of all. The 2030 Plan is ingrained around our sustainability strategy focusing on four key parameters. The first one is climate, and that’s obviously self-explanatory. The second one is water and nature. The third one is people and communities, and that’s where the literacy competition falls, that’s CSR and education. The fourth one is the circular economy.
Within the education aspect which falls under the third pillar, people and communities, we essentially took a snapshot: what and where is the need? What’s the issue? And clearly in Nigeria, looking at education, the statistics are quite compelling – compelling in the sense that something needs to be done. Literacy is a national issue. It is estimated that just a little above half of the adult population, about 57 per cent, is literate, according to UNESCO. The youth literacy rate is less than 70 per cent (UNESCO 2016), and urban literacy surpasses rural literacy at a huge ratio of 69.4 per cent to 38.5 per cent. Even more, 65.1 per cent of males are literate as opposed to 50.6 per cent females, according to the National Literacy Survey, 2010. Overall, these estimates reveal that about 65 million Nigerians remain illiterate while over 10 million children are out of school (UNICEF 2014). We also have similar situations across sub-Saharan Africa. UNESCO states that 26 per cent of the world’s illiterates are in Africa. Those statistics, I think, answer to your question more than adequately and we feel, obviously for those compelling reasons, that education is an area we will like to play in.
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Do you see any connection between a country’s literacy level and the state of its economy, using Nigeria as an example?
What is literacy? Literacy is not just about reading, it is also about thinking. When you think, you can solve problems. When you think, you can make huge dreams come true. When you think, you can do anything you really want to do. And when you think, that’s when we can start to move, I suppose, from where we are now with those damning statistics to where we ought to be. So the answer to that is that literacy is an enabler as well. Literacy has social, cultural and economic benefits and Lafarge believes better literacy skills help participants secure their future. When you are educated, that’s when you can actually participate and make an impact in and contribute meaningfully to the development of any economy. So there is a close correlation and one can simply not be done without the other. Here is an analogy. We are a construction solutions company. When you are building a house, for instance, you have to make sure the foundation is right and solid and thought through. That’s why we are focusing on primary school levels, specifically for the obvious reasons of that sustainability.
Could you educate us more on the National Literacy Competition? How does it work and what does it hope to achieve?
The National Literacy Competition is a CSR initiative of Lafarge Africa Plc. It started in 2014. The maiden edition was piloted in three regions (North-East, South-South and South-West) where Lafarge has factories. It is a combination of what makes up literacy – reading, spelling, summary writing, and essay writing. There is a study guide that we give to the teachers and the stakeholders within. There are SUBEC and UBEC whom we work with and we ensure they adhere to that study guide. After being coached in spelling, pronunciation, essay writing, and summary writing using our specially developed study guides, select pupils compete in a state run-off. The top two candidates (one male and one female) from each state will move on to the regional levels. The winning regions (again two pupils – one male and one female) then proceed to the grand finale. Six winners will emerge in the grand finale.
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How is this year’s competition going to improve on what has been on the ground?
This year we have a theme, ‘Bridging the Literacy Gap Together’. As I said, we began in 2014, so this is our fourth year. We have run the competition, I suppose one can say, in isolation, all by ourselves. Given the statistics that I have just shared with you, we are asking, frankly, how can we make a much more sustainable difference going forward? So we deliberately chose that theme. What do we mean by that theme? We want to see how we can really partner better with some other stakeholders, such as the government, both state and federal; how we can partner with even more international organizations; how we can ensure that we sustainably make that critical impact. And if you think about UN Sustainable Development Goals, which there are 17 of them, Goal 17 is one of the areas we really want to make an impact. And that’s really where we are setting ourselves, positioning ourselves this year so that when we come back next year we actually do have the partners with us. In terms of depth and breadth, we are now really going to be interfacing more with teachers as well and making sure we are actually working with them in improving things. We have been endorsed by UBEC which is another huge accomplishment, and that’s also part of illustrating how with the partnerships of the actual stakeholders within the education sector we can achieve more. They say TEAM means Together Everybody Achieves More.
What more can you tell us about this year’s competition?
This year Lafarge National Literacy Competition, the fourth in the series, is already on course and will improve the skills of at least 2,700 public primary school pupils (aged 9 to 13 years). The state run-offs kicked off on September 18 in Plateau State and ran in all other states across the country until October 6. The regional run-offs kicked off on October 18 which Plateau State won; it will represent the North-Central region at the finals. The grand finale will hold on November 16 in Lagos where six winners (three boys and three girls) will be awarded national prizes.
Beyond the winning prizes, what other benefits are participating pupils expected to derive from the competition?
I go back to the saying my father used to tell me when we were little, that he would not leave so much inheritance for us but he was going to educate us, so he had rather spend money on that. The point I am trying to make is that that’s one benefit, and it’s priceless; it’s like giving somebody a key to drive to wherever they want to go, to whatever destination. Education is an enabler, and that’s one huge benefit that it brings. I don’t think you can really put a price on that. Already, we have two students that have won scholarships to secondary school as a result of the competition. The competition has boosted the literacy levels of beneficiaries. It inspires confidence and we already have testimonials from teachers. So it’s not only about the prizes. Of course, the prize is recognition, but more so it is about the sustainable impact that we make.
Do you have a way of following up on these pupils after the literacy competition?
We do that. We continue to keep in touch with them and that’s why I have just given you an update on two students that have been awarded a scholarship to secondary school. We continue to go back to those states where we have gone before, for instance. We have been doing that for the past three to four years now and so that continues. We keep in touch with the teachers as well. We also have what we call the Lafarge Reading Volunteer Scheme whereby all employees are encouraged to, above and beyond this competition, throughout the year to go into the schools and sit with them. It inspires confidence. So what we do is not a one-off thing, we are fully committed.
Given the low literacy levels in Nigeria, do you think the National Literacy Competition has the ability to make any significant impact?
We have been doing this for several years already and as I just mentioned, we have got testimonials. Teachers are giving us feedback that a number of their pupils have shown improved confidence as a result of the competition. Since inception, we have impacted over 200,000 primary school pupils across 244 local government areas. Cross River State has adopted our Spelling Bee curriculum, and our study guides are being used and adopted across some other states. Lagos State has actually introduced and created a budget line already which has to do with literacy enhancement across the state for their pupils. Additionally, again I keep going back to our theme; we have achieved what we have, how can we raise the bar? So this year it’s about raising the bar and making sure we can now achieve more with other multinationals, other stakeholders, international NGOs, etc as well coming on board.
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Where do you want to take this competition to ultimately?
Where we want to take the competition is to have made a sizeable difference in terms of improving the literacy of our young children in Nigeria. That’s where we want to take it. We also want to be a thought leader in terms of collaborating and being an instigator working with several stakeholders and bringing together everyone critical to improve that vision.
Apart from the literacy competition, are there other similar efforts by Lafarge Africa to improve literacy levels in Nigeria? Could you tell us about these efforts?
I talked about the Lafarge Reading Project. The Lafarge Reading Project is a volunteer programme of Lafarge staff to improve vocabulary and literacy of public primary schools. Between 2013 and 2015, Lafarge employees volunteered 6,212 hours via The Lafarge Reading Project. We do several other things within the communities in terms of building and renovating schools in towns and communities as well. We do a lot of that. We do go out and speak and mentor and coach. I personally do that on my own. I enjoy doing that; I mentor and coach teenagers. That’s something we do a lot of. We have several apprentices that come into our plans as well. They come and learn vocational skills, we train them and we actually absorb them as well within our organisation. We also do that leading to the fourth pillar I talked about, which is the circular economy. That also sits under education because literacy as we mentioned is not just about reading. There is an aspect of hand-skilled training that we do bring.
Speaking of this year’s theme ‘Bridging the Literacy Gap Together’, what word do you have for other organisations who may wish to join this effort?
I think the entire literacy deficit that we have in Nigeria cannot solely be bridged by the government. So let us really come together and see where we can collaborate more and really make sure that we address the real fundamental issues that we have together.
