Nigeria joined the Organization on 14 November 1960, and hosts the UNESCO Office in Abuja.
The country works actively with UNESCO in education, literacy and science. Nigeria is the first African country to convene an International Workshop on Mass Literacy following the 2007 Bamako Regional Conference on Global Literacy.
Family Re-orientation Education and Empowerment (FREE), Nigerian NGO, received the 2007 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy for creating learning centres.
Nigeria and UNESCO are also collaborating on cultural activities. They include World Heritage site development, the Slave Route Project, and a planned Institute for African Culture and International Understanding. The country seeks UNESCO's guidance on intangible cultural heritage, through such projects as the Endangered Languages Programme.
Nigeria was elected in 2007 to the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme and to the World Heritage Committee.