By Peter Onyekachukwu 
By Peter Onyekachukwu
The National Association of Seadogs (NAS), popularly known as the Pyrates Confraternity, has warned that Nigeria risks producing a “lost generation” if urgent steps are not taken to tackle the country’s worsening literacy crisis.
Speaking in Asaba on Sunday during activities to mark the 2025 International Literacy Day, the Vito Corsica Deck of NAS staged sensitisation campaigns across the city and joined a live programme on Delta Radio DBS 97.9FM to highlight the scale of the problem.
This year’s global theme is “Promoting Literacy in the Digital Era: Bridging the Gap.”
In a hard-hitting message, NAS Cap’n, Dr. Joseph Oteri, described Nigeria’s education situation as a national emergency. He cited UNICEF and UNESCO reports which show that between 10.2 million and 18.3 million Nigerian children are out of school, making the country home to one in every five out-of-school children in the world.
“Every uneducated child is a ticking time bomb — a future lost to poverty, crime, drugs, exploitation, or trafficking,” Oteri warned. “Nigeria cannot claim development while millions of its children are denied the basic right to education.”
He also raised concerns about the digital divide, stressing that lack of affordable internet, digital devices, and ICT centres is cutting off millions of disadvantaged children in rural areas from opportunities available in the digital age.
To address the crisis, NAS launched a month-long “Back to School Advocacy and Humanitarian Project” running from September 8 to October 8, 2025. The initiative will combine advocacy with direct interventions, including scholarships, tuition support, and school materials for disadvantaged children.
The association, which enjoys United Nations consultative status, also issued a five-point demand to government and stakeholders:
Allocate at least 20% of annual budgets to education, with strict monitoring.
Enforce free, compulsory and quality basic education without hidden costs.
Invest heavily in digital inclusion through ICT centres and affordable internet.
Expand social protection measures like school feeding and scholarships.
Ensure strict accountability to stop education funds from being diverted.
“The cost of inaction is catastrophic,” Oteri said. “Every Nigerian child left uneducated today will cost this nation its tomorrow. Literacy is not charity; it is survival. It is the passport to national security, economic stability, and social justice.”
As the world marked International Literacy Day, NAS insisted that Nigeria can no longer afford rhetoric. “The battle for the nation’s future will be won or lost in the classrooms,” the group declared.