Education minister unveils 50 tertiary education textbooks by Nigerian authors

Adamu Adamu, minister of education, has unveiled 50 new textbooks published by Nigerian authors under the sponsorship of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The textbooks were unveiled on Thursday at a public presentation in Abuja.

The minister, who was represented by Goodluck Opiah, minister of state for education, said the textbooks will put an end to the predominance of foreign academic materials in the country’s educational institutions.

“Over time, Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions became dependent on books published outside the country with the attendant consequences of the herculean processes and unfavourable foreign exchange rate,” he said.

“It is equally worrisome that the quality of most academic publications in our country leaves much to be desired. 

“It is, therefore, expected that nourishing 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 taking cognizance of our local environment and sensitivities, but will also safeguard national pride and reduce the demand for foreign exchange.”

While commending TETFund for the publications, Adamu charged the agency and authors to also produce books in the nation’s indigenous languages. 

” I also charge TETFund and the academia to go beyond publishing in English language to promoting authorship in our local languages in line with the recently approved national language policy,” he said.

In his remarks, Sonny Echono, executive secretary of TETFund, said the books would be distributed to tertiary institutions’ libraries at no cost. 

“All the books we have published so far, the initial publications are going to be distributed to the libraries of our tertiary institutions free of charge. It is the subsequent publications that students will be buying or other researchers will buy,” he said.