The Federal Government has presented 82 academic textbooks authored by Nigerian scholars to strengthen teaching and learning in tertiary institutions across the country.
The Minister of Education, Maruf Tunji Alausa, made the presentation on Wednesday in Abuja during a public unveiling of the books developed under the Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Alausa said the initiative was part of the Federal Government’s commitment to improving the quality of education and promoting academic excellence in Nigeria’s higher education system.
According to him, the project was designed to address the shortage of locally authored textbooks and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign publications.
He noted that Nigerian tertiary institutions had increasingly depended on foreign textbooks, which placed pressure on foreign exchange and discouraged indigenous authorship.
The minister emphasised the need to support Nigerian scholars to produce quality academic textbooks across various disciplines, particularly in science, technology and engineering, which he described as critical to national development.
He also assured the authors that efforts would be made to ensure the books become accessible beyond tertiary institutions and potentially reach a global audience.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the intervention aimed to address the persistent shortage of quality tertiary-level textbooks and strengthen teaching, learning and research in higher institutions.
Echono explained that 72 of the titles were newly produced under the project, while 10 others were written by reputable scholars and secured for use by beneficiary institutions.
He disclosed that the fund had so far published 202 academic textbooks, with several others currently undergoing evaluation.
According to him, more than 400,000 copies of the books will be distributed to beneficiary institutions across the country.
Echono added that the fund had also reviewed its operational modalities to ensure prudent management of resources and value for money.
Under the new arrangement, authors will receive monetary honoraria based on the content and number of pages in their books, along with 20 complimentary copies, replacing the previous practice of providing 1,000 copies of publications to authors.
Earlier, participants at the event observed a minute’s silence in honour of one of the authors, Valerie Young Harry, who died shortly before the presentation.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of TETFund, Aminu Bello Masari, described the late author’s work as a lasting legacy, noting that knowledge passed from one generation to another ensures a person’s impact outlives their lifetime.
Masari stressed the need to apply knowledge practically and called for strategies to commercialise the textbooks so that authors and their families could benefit from their intellectual contributions.
