Having a literate society is the surest and fastest way of achieving sustainable development, such that the citizens will become highly fulfilled for attaining their goal of happiness which is the ultimate quest of every man. It is a kind of a society class related issues are taken into consideration, security of lives and property of it's citizens are guaranteed. The Middle East War involving America, Israel and Iran, that witnessed great destruction of lives and property is not a type that can guarantee citizens the kind of life being described. So many were displaced and made homeless, while economic life of the people was disrupted. What are the manifestations? Hunger and abject poverty.
As stated in previous posts, the benefits of having a literate society are quite enormous, including having a lawful, stable and orderly society, adequate political inclusion through having informed, enlightened and politically active citizens in terms of participation and engagement (politically exposed persons - PEP), and appreciation of government's programmes (public policy), which results in having high maintenance culture - what Nigeria is seriously lacking at the moment. Another benefit of a literate society is having highly moral and upright citizens, (because formal and modern education through the adoption of scientific methodology, seeks to always establish and maintain absolute truth, that is how the character of calling a spade a spade is formed), as well as seeking to maintain the liberty of citizens, by ensuring their freedom and equality of all and sundry are well protected - an essential ingredients needed to achieve development in the society.
On the whole, in a literate society, citizens are civil, cultured, moral, disciplined, upright, humane and non-barbaric.
SOME IDENTIFIABLE QUALITIES OF A LITERATE SOCIETY
High productivity
The rate of productivity in a literate society is quite higher than societies that are not literate. Prominently, literate societies have citizens who are highly skilled and understand the socio-economic system better. This knowledge helps them explore and exploit economic opportunities which ordinarily the uneducated or those who are not literate cannot do. Their skills guarantee efficiency and speedy results, which add surplus to production. The explanation is reflected in the earning scales of citizens - most often than not, vast majority of literate citizens earn above the poverty line, while the non-literate citizens earn below the poverty line, which is currently pegged at $2:15 per day (April 2025).
High standard of living
When productivity is high, Standard of living will definitely be high, because there is a great relationship between both. Poverty rate is reduced to the bearest minimum in literate societies as a result of maintaining high moral values, including hard work, plus the advantage of sharpened and sophisticated skills contributing to high efficiency in productivity. When citizens earn more money, their socio-economic status will definitely go higher. Unlike a society that is not literate, mostly in developing countries, which are being characterize by low average income per head, because the citizens are mostly unskilled and limited in knowledge.
Income redistribution and income equality
In literate societies, citizens strive to bridge the gap between the lower end the upper class, because of the standard set for themselves. For example, according to the World Bank Report, about 160 million Nigerians are living in poverty in Nigeria, a break down of the figure reveals that a very large percentage of the population are citizens who are not educated or literate. Many reasons can be deducted for this, including lack of financial education, financial indiscipline, inadequate knowledge about the economy, and how the socio-econonic system works. It is hardly to see uneducated or illiterate citizens talking about or investing in the stock exchange market and other top business enterprises that involves lots of paperwork and huge capital. They are highly limited in knowledge, which is a leading factor of their low socio-economic stutus. It was a British philosopher, Rene Descartes who said that, "knowledge is power". Therefore, if citizens are highly knowledgeable, it is a precursor for restructuring and redistribution of income in the society.
High political participation and political culture
Less abuse of powers is recorded because activities of government are being checked by citizens, owing to their enlightened and well informed status about the society, the reason they can easily hold government to account. A society that is well literate, government do not take citizens for granted. Like a British historian, Lord Acton, said "power corrupt, absolute power corrupt absolutely", and in support to this, is a famous quote by Paul Valery, "if the state is strong, it crushes us. If it is weak, we perish", underscoring the need for citizens to be fully involved in the governance process of the state, in order to hold government accountable, because they are their employee, in an ideal democratic setting.
Political stability
Political stability is usually achieved in societies citizens are well literate and educated, because of their exposure and active involvement or participation in the political process, and having high, mature and strong political culture. So many crises occuring across the world, which have led to instability and change of government, especially in an unconstitutional means, are usually the resultant effects of political activities, rising from citizens' inability to be cultured, civil, disciplined, law-abiding and responsible. This can explain why political process, elections specifically, are usually married by violence, rigging, thuggery, arson, and miaming, in many African countries, instability is a recurring decimal. Categorically, political stability is assured or guaranteed in a literate society, while it is also a strong factor or recipe for achieving sustainable development rapidly, because government is the primary driver of social change.
Liberty
Liberty of citizens which the inalienable rights of human are subsisted, is very crucial for attainment of ultimate goal and sustainable development in the society. In many countries, especially the developing ones, it is highly suppressed and restricted. Many do not know their rights, while those who know lack the wherewithal and courage to protect them. Most unfortunately, some political systems for some reasons fail the citizens, while the political leaders and the elite class capitalize on the loopholes of the weak and incapacitated legal system, resulting in outright violation of human rights and miscarriages of justice. The citizens' become restricted or limited, while injustice, inequality and lack of freedom thrive. It is only in a literate society, with well informed and enlightened citizens, the trend can be reversed, by steering the course of having a just, orderly and egalitarian society, that will be beneficial to all, in attainment of ultimate goal. In a literate society, in the event of abuse and violation of human rights, the citizens cannot fail to speak up without fear, while the government cannot fail to act, else it will be called to order for negligence, irresponsibility and violation of social contract. Don't forget, it is the main duty of the state through its agent, the government, to ensure the security of lives and property of its citizens.
Security
To have a secure society, all hands must be on desk, not only the duty of the government the way some people are made to believe. In a literate society, security is everyone's business, while it is not so in non-literate society, the citizens don't show commitment towards social development, because of their limited knowledge. In a literate society, such is part of their moral values well inculcated or socialized, in a way that has become sacrosanct. It starts from the individual level in being mindful of the maintenance of law and order, while the reverse is the root cause and starting point of every form of insecurity. Meaningful engagement drives away idleness and redundancy, so the values of hard work dominant in a literate society, contribute in forstalling insecurity. The government cannot get this done alone, without the support of the citizens. That is why proactive measures are sought to tackle or nip in the bud, recipes and precursors of insecurity. A literate society characterized by responsive and responsible government cannot fail to keep to one of its main responsibilities of providing security to lives and property, else the educated, well informed and politically active citizens will call them to order.
A literate society will have no or less mob gang or hoodlums, because the citizens who are well educated, will be meaningfully engaged, and being cultured, civil and disciplined, by virtue of their characters (characters moulding and formation), they hardly involve in inhumane and barbaric acts. This is part and parcel of the social norms being socialized or transferred to the citizens while receiving education. The recurring election violence in Nigeria leading to gruesome killing and destruction of property, the fierce, inhumane and barbaric social discrimination in South Africa known as xenophobia and the xenophobic attacks speak volume about the subject of discourse.
Sustainable development
No society can think of development without having developed brains (literate or educated citizens). Similarly, development achieved or recorded cannot be sustained without the developed brains being productively and strategically engaged, that is one benefit of having literate citizens in the society, because sustainability of development recorded will be guaranteed. It is substantially manifested when these literate or educated citizens make up the vast majority of the population. For instance, poor maintenance culture is one of the serious challenges Nigeria and so many other developing countries are facing, reports have shown that the leading cause of this phenomenon is the citizens poor attitude towards government's programmes (public policy). The citizens because of their illiteracy, ignorance or lack of knowledge, fail to embrace and treat public projects as theirs. Another factor is the citizens' perspective towards the government, which make see anything done by government as 'their projects', a complete alienation from the institution which ought to be the primary driver of social change, which illiteracy and lack of education is largely responsible - for more explanation, see the post titled, "THE NEED FOR CHANGE OR SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE ON GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA". Unlike in a literate society, the citizens meaningfully engaged the government and hold them to account, while the outcomes of government (public policy) are knowledgeably well accepted and treated as theirs.
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