Nigerian Government says it would end the dominance of foreign publications in its higher education institutions following the unveiling of 10 new textbooks sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Adamu Adamu, Nigeria’s Minister of Education, said the country’s dependence on foreign academic publications portends great danger to the education sector, adding that boosting indigenous authorship would address the problem.
“The paucity of indigenously authored and produced tertiary level textbooks and related academic publications in the nation’s tertiary education institutions is a known fact, over time,” Adamu said at the unveiling of the books on Tuesday.
“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.”
Adamu was represented at the event by Goodluck Nana Opiah, the Minister of State for Education.
“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 said.
The Minister commended TETFund for establishing the Higher Education Book Development project to tackle the scarcity of tertiary-level textbooks.
He also hailed the Fund for putting in place the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), whose mandate includes collaboratively working with the agency to ensure Nigerian authors churn out quality books.
“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 the establishment and sustainability of Academic Publishing Centres (APCs).”
“It is worthy of note that so far seventy-seven manuscripts have passed through rigorous review processes by distinguished scholars and are ready for publication as books. I want to assure this gathering that an additional thirty books will be presented before the end of this year under the TETFund sponsorship programme.”
“It will be of interest to note that over 60 per cent of these books are to be published by the Academic Publishing Centres (APCs) established by TETFund.”
Sonny Echono, Executive Secretary of TETFund, was delighted about the quality of the 10 books, noting that additional 30 books sponsored by the Fund would be unveiled before the end of the year.
He disclosed that the Fund would sponsor the production of 50 textbooks in 2023.
“We have over 66 manuscripts; what we are unveiling today was published by only one publisher (one printing press) by the time we unveil the remaining 30 in December, you are going to see all the authors cut across the three layers of our tertiary education institutions, ” Echono said.
The TETFund boss also revealed that the Fund had provided support to ensure all the Academic Publishing Centres in the country become fully operational.
The event’s high point was the public presentation of the TETFund-sponsored books, which include;1.Principles of Veterinary Surgery: A Concise Text for Veterinary Students 2. Fundamental of Chemistry 3. Fundamental of Public Finance 4.Java for Beginners and Web Design and 5. Programming for Beginners.
Others are 6. The Comparative Method and Civil-Military Relations 7.Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics for Engineers 8. A Guide to Teacher Competence Evaluation 9. Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Nigeria and 10. Motivational Factors and Teachers Efficiency in Secondary Schools.