The Federal Government has made a landmark public presentation of Fifty (50) Titles of Academic textbooks written by Nigerian Scholars and published under the sponsorship of the TETFund’s Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project.
The Minister Of Education, Dr Morufu Alausa who unveiled the books in Abuja, lamented that, overtime, Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions became dependent on books published outside the country with the attendant consequences of the pressure on the demand for foreign exchange.
According to him, the paucity of indigenously authored and produced tertiary level textbooks and related academic publications in the nation’s tertiary education institutions was a known fact.
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“It is therefore expected that nurturing the culture of quality authorship and the production of indigenous books will not only ensure the availability of relevant books in the diverse subject areas that take cognizance of our local environment and sensitivities but will also safeguard national pride and reduce the demand for foreign exchange”.
He further lamented that, scarcity of tertiary level texts in Nigeria has reached a crisis proportion as evident not only in the quality of books available but also in the quantity of books produced locally.
The Minister noted that, the need to tackle this crisis head-on has resulted in the establishment of TETFund Higher Education Book Development Project.
“In order to ensure successful implementation of the Higher Education Book Development Project, the Board of Trustees of TETFund in the year 2009, set up the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) whose mandate included collaboratively working with the Fund in fine tuning the Book Development Blue Print Document into Strategic Working Document that clearly spells out the administrative procedures, frameworks and guidelines for effective TETFund Higher Education Book Development Intervention Funds in Tertiary Education Institutions in the country and reviewing the document(s) whenever the need arises”, he said.
Alausa disclosed that the TETFund Book Development Fund intervenes in the three key areas of publication of academic books and the conversion of high-quality theses into books, support for Professional Association Journals; and establishment and sustainability of Academic Publishing Centres (APCs).
Teaching and research depend on relevant instructional materials such as published books and journals, monographs, and other specialized reading materials as well as e-publishing of books and journals, ladies and gentlemen, the Government is giving more attention to publication through TETFund in a bid to provide adequate indigenous learning materials in our Tertiary Educational Institutions for national development and improve the global ranking of Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions”, he added.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, identified insufficient high-quality tertiary-level textbooks in Nigeria as reasons for the initiative.
“This crisis prompted the establishment of the TETFund Higher Education Book Development Project, a bold and visionary initiative aimed at addressing this significant gap. To ensure that this initiative was effectively implemented, the Board of Trustees of TETFund took a crucial step in 2009 by setting up the Technical Advisory Group (TAG).
“Members of TAG consist of academic experts drawn from the six geopolitical zones, representatives of academic unions (ASUU, ASUP, and COAESU), as well as representatives of three Regulatory Bodies (NUC, NBTE, and NCC),” Arc. Echono said.
He disclosed that over 130 manuscripts have passed through rigorous review processes and been published as textbooks, with more manuscripts currently under review.
Following the reconstitution of the Technical Advisory Group Committee upon my assumption of duty as Executive Secretary in 2022, tremendous achievements were made, including the production and public presentation of eighty (80) titles of TETFund Sponsored Books in various subjects for tertiary educational institutions,” he said.
He noted that the TAG Committee was reconstituted in June 2024, and based on the fresh target set, a total of ninety-seven (97) manuscripts were reviewed, scrutinised, and recommended for publication. Out of these, fifty (50) manuscripts have been published and are now here with us for public presentation.
“Another sixty (60) books are scheduled for unveiling before the end of 2025. It is important to also note that, in our efforts to ensure value for money, authors will now receive monetary compensation based on the number of pages in their books instead of 1,000 copies of their books being given to them,” he added.
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Also speaking, Chairman of the Technical Advisory Group for TETFund on Academic Book Publication and Professional Journal Funding, Professor Albert Abegunde said the books were all aimed at promoting literacy, preserving culture, expanding technology, encouraging entrepreneurship, fostering research and innovation to build generations.
He said the books consist of 5 on Medicine and Pharmacy, 11 on Art, Culture and Literature; 2 on Law, 6 on Technology and Engineering; 2 on Mathematics, 7 on Agriculture and Environment, 5 on Economics and Management, 1 on Entrepreneurship and Vocational Studies, 3 on Statistics and Research Methods, 7 on Education and General Literacy, and 1 on Security.
