United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is one of
the United Nations Organization’s (UNO) agencies is specialized in helping countries to work
together in areas of Education, Science and Culture. One of the main aims of UNESCO, is
ensuring that everyone in the world has free access to education and must be able to read and
write especially in the language of his or her environment. This article analyses the contributions
to, and impacts of UNESCO’s various International Conferences and activities on, Adult
Literacy Education in Nigeria between 1946 and 2010. The article discussed why the rate of
adult illiteracy is still very high despite the efforts of UNESCO and the Federal Government of
Nigeria.