Though adult education has been identified and perceived for its complexities, the national policy on education in Nigeria and constitution ascribed its functionality to the country’s democratic situation since independence. It democracy, a social mechanism for solving the problems of societal decision making among conflicting interest groups id tied to literacy, participation and education of the adults should be accorded a critical focus and situationally taken care of. This important factor in a democratic setting of Nigeria has not been given adequate attention like that of the youth. It is in the light of this, that this paper addresses the forms of adult literacy education programmes as agents of Nigerian transformational democracy in terms of equity and poverty reduction. The paper concludes that literacy education for the adults had undergone significant changes functionally in terms of felt needs, quality and control since independence. It also suggests that provision of enlightenment programmes should be addressed aggressively.
Keywords: Adult Education, Democratization, Poverty, transformation and literacy
