Imagine receiving a message that says your bank account will be blocked unless you click a link immediately. The message looks official, the language is convincing and the instruction seems straightforward. You can read it, but that does not necessarily mean you know whether it is legitimate.
The same thing happens in other parts of everyday life. You can read a loan agreement without understanding how much you will eventually repay. You can read a news story without recognising that some of the information is misleading. You can read an investment offer without noticing the warning signs.
This raises an important question: is being able to read and write still enough to define literacy?
For a long time, it was. Today, it is only part of the picture.
Literacy Has Changed
According to UNESCO, at least 739 million young people and adults worldwide lacked basic literacy skills in 2024, while four in 10 children are not reaching minimum proficiency in reading. There has been significant progress globally, with more than 86% of the world’s population now able to read and write, compared with 68% in 1979.
However, access to information has changed the challenge.
We now interact with information constantly through social media, banking platforms, news sites, emails, contracts, job applications and online services. Being literate increasingly means being able to understand that information, assess whether it is reliable and make informed decisions based on it.
Take the suspicious bank message again. Digital literacy involves knowing how to navigate online platforms safely and recognising when something does not look right. Media literacy involves being able to assess where information comes from, compare sources and recognise content that may be misleading or designed to influence us.
Financial decisions require similar skills. Understanding a bank statement, an interest rate or the terms of an investment product requires more than being able to read the words. It requires understanding what the information means and what it could mean for the decision being made.
The Nigerian Context
These skills are increasingly relevant in Nigeria. UNESCO data shows that Nigeria’s literacy rate among people aged 15–24 was 81.4% in 2024, while the rate among people aged 25–64 was 67.6%.
This means literacy cannot be treated only as an issue for children in school. Adults also need opportunities to keep learning as technology, workplaces and the way we access information continue to change.
What Literacy Means Today
This is why literacy today needs to be viewed as more than reading and writing. The foundation remains important, but people also need to understand information, question it, navigate digital spaces and use what they learn to make sound decisions.
World Literacy Day is observed every 8 September. As UNESCO marks its 60th anniversary in 2026 under the theme “Literacy for People, the Planet and Prosperity,” it is worth considering what literacy means in the world we live in now.
The question is no longer simply whether someone can read.
It is whether they can understand what they are reading and use that information well.
