Anti-Corruption and Literacy: Tools of nation building

Introduction Africa is a continent of riches, but corruption and illiteracy have largely reduced it to the periphery of the peripheries in global affairs. For instance in recent times, corruption has become pervasive in Ghana, threatening the survival of the nation in many aspects of life: politics and governance, industry and commerce, education and training, science and technology. Illiteracy is equally a monster in other countries on the African continent.

These two evils have been instrumental in the continent’s relative instability and under-development. The worst victims of the unfortunate situation are the youth who are expected to assume the mantle of leadership in future.

It is now obvious that the future of Africa lies in good leadership, and those responsible are, undoubtedly, young leaders. We all agree that good governance, democracy, constitutionalism, and nation building are heavily shaped by the quality of a country’s politics.

But this is impossible without a highly literate and morally sound population of youth. If the future of Africa lies in the youth, there arises the need to promote anti-corruption and literacy campaign to equip them with technical expertise and moral values to assume the mantle of leadership.

This reminds us of the words of Mr. Kingsley Y. Amoako, a Ghanaian-born international civil servant and diplomat: “When our children are assured of survival and health, provided with a good education, protected from war and violence, and when youth participate in the democracy and development of their countries, then Africa will be set to claim the 21st century.”

Anti-corruption In this discourse, anti-corruption implies all commissions and omissions to free society from all evils: from hypocrisy to thievery, from victimization to sycophancy, from authoritarianism to racism, from jealousy to hatred.

Morphologically, anti-corruption is a three-morpheme word. The morphemes involved are CORRUPT (free morpheme), ANTI (prefix as bound morpheme), and ION (suffix as bound morpheme). Grammatically, anti-corruption is a noun, but in usage it can function as an adjective. For example: ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGN.

In this phrase, anti-corruption, though a noun, functions as an adjective qualifying the other noun CAMPAIGN. Remember NOUN ADJUNCT in English Grammar. Contextually, anti-corruption is expected to have semantic properties of morality which is required for the advancement of all nations. This implies that in this discourse anti-corruption means morality.

Literacy Literacy in this context refers to ability to read, write, understand, analyze, criticize, and draw logical conclusions on matters of life. The key to all forms of literacy is reading development, a progression of skills that begins with the ability to understand spoken words and decode written words, and ends in the deep understanding of text. Reading development involves awareness of a range of complex language disciplines. These include speech sounds (phonology), pronunciation of words (phonetics), spelling patterns (orthography), word meaning (semantics), rules governing construction (grammar), arrangement or positioning of words (syntax), and patterns of word formation (morphology). All these provide a necessary platform for reading fluency and comprehension.

Once the reader acquires these skills, he or she can attain full language literacy, which includes the abilities to approach printed material with critical analysis, inference and synthesis; to write with accuracy and coherence; and to use information and insights from text as the basis for informed decisions and creative thoughts.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.

Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society." From the above explanation it is obvious that literacy and education are synonyms and are used interchangeably in this discourse.

Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, and research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but may also be autodidactic (self-learning). Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.

A right to education has been recognized by almost all governments of various countries. At the global level, Article 13 of the United Nations' 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to education.

Education, in this discourse, is then defined as all types of imparting all types of knowledge and skills to all types of people in all types of societies. This definition calls for a critical examination of the relevance of education among the youth to nation building.

The Relevance of Education to Nation Building So far personalities who have distinguished themselves in education have made imprints in the history of human evolution. Prophet Adam stood tall among angels because of his exceptional performance in the University of Allah. Prophet Moses defeated Pharaoh out of divine education and protection. Today Christendom, Islam, and other religions continue to render priceless services to humanity because of their commitment to education.

Furthermore, in the Pre-Islamic era, the period of Jaahilyyah, poetry recital was regarded as a mark of intellectualism, and those who mastered the art were revered as the intelligentsia and therefore the light of that era. Even in modern times, men and women of knowledge are still the hope and light of society. The achievements of mankind in science and technology of the world of today are enough to prove the relevance of education to humanity.

The importance of education is undeniable for every single person. Yes, education has unparallel positive effects on human life. All people need to study. Only with the power of education can people gain knowledge and broaden their view of the world. For example, learning by watching TV, listening to radio, or reading books gives people a huge amount of information about anything they are interested in.

Surely, people become more civilized and useful in nation building if better educated. In areas where residents are unable to achieve an appreciable level of education, life cannot be as prosperous as is the case in locations of higher standards of education.

Besides, education plays such a rudimentary role in our society that we cannot even imagine life without it. It is a determined element for the civilization of human society. Not only does it help us develop healthy surroundings, but it also generates an advance community. Indeed, everything we create today is based on the knowledge that we obtain throughout our life by way of education.

This assists scientists in inventing complex machinery that has made the present day an era of technological wonder and remarkable ease in living. The more developed life becomes, the more necessary education is for humanity.

Those, who have amassed enough education, steer the path of development and progress for their countries. It is these individuals who become teachers, scientists, inventors, welfare activists, writers, politicians, and other professionals. They work together and share expertise to advance the interests of society. Without this pool of intellect, the economic and social framework would crumple, paving the way for anarchy, poverty, and misery.

While this intricate balance of growth is maintained, there will be a continuous rise in progress in all quarters of life. This progress has a very important role to play in the lives of the coming generations, provided they develop and reap the benefits of our efforts.

In an equal measure, the negative impact of our actions shall have a collateral damage on the generations yet unborn. We must therefore be exceptionally prudent about the decisions we make and the actions we take on education for the youth of today.

Conclusion In the light of the above analyses, it has become obvious that anti-corruption and literacy have a common agendum of producing moral characters, ready at all times to serve humanity and the Lord of Universe. Both concepts are instruments of stability and nation building.

Indeed, anti-corruption and literacy are meaningless unless they are linked up with the total liberation of nations from the shackles of ignorance, from the dangers of immorality, from the flames of extremism, from the confines of timidity.

The youth should, therefore, be encouraged to develop good literacy skills, high moral aptitudes, and leadership qualities that would ensure positive transformation on the continent of Africa.