By Muhammad Amaan
The Federal Government of Nigeria has unveiled 50 locally written textbooks aimed at addressing the critical dearth of high-quality academic resources in tertiary institutions.
The 50 textbooks were presented to the public by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, in Abuja on Tuesday.
The initiative is spearheaded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), under the Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project.
Dr Alausa said that the newly published textbooks, crafted by Nigerian scholars, were set to revolutionise the academic landscape and provide needed support for students and educators across the country.
According to him, overtime, Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions have become dependent on books published outside the country, with the attendant consequences of the pressure on the demand for foreign exchange.
He explained that nurturing the culture of quality authorship and the production of indigenous books would not only ensure the availability of relevant books but would also safeguard national pride.
He added that it would also reduce the demand for foreign exchange.
“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 need to tackle this crisis head-on resulted in the establishment of TETFund’s Higher Education Book Development Project.
“Teaching and research depend on relevant instructional materials such as published books and journals, monographs, and other specialised reading materials as well as e-publishing of books and journals,” he said.
The minister said that the government was giving more attention to publication through TETFund in a bid to provide adequate indigenous learning materials in tertiary educational institutions for national development.
He said it would also improve the global ranking of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.”
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Mr Sonny Echono, said that the 50 academic textbooks were written by Nigerian scholars and published under the sponsorship of TETFund’s Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project.
Mr Echono said lack of sufficient, high-quality tertiary-level textbooks had reached a critical point in Nigeria, given the need for such books.
According to him, the shortage is not only seen in the limited quantity of books available, but also in the quality of what is produced locally.
“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 is 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).”
Mr Echono added that more than 130 manuscripts had successfully passed through rigorous review processes and have been published as textbooks, with more manuscripts currently under review.
“For the records, the successes recorded initially were quite negligible, as only 14 books were published in 2014, and none thereafter.
“Following the reconstitution of TAG committee upon my assumption in 2022, tremendous achievements were made, including the production and public presentation of 80 titles of TETFund Sponsored Books in various subjects for tertiary educational institutions,” he said.
He disclosed that the TAG committee was reconstituted in June 2024, and based on the fresh target set, 97 manuscripts were reviewed, scrutinised, and recommended for publication.
According to him, out of these, 50 manuscripts have been published and are now ready for public presentation.
