BY HENRY TYOHEMBA, Abuja
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has become a key player in addressing one of Nigeria’s most pressing educational challenges, the shortage of high-quality, locally produced textbooks for tertiary institutions.
For years, Nigerian universities and colleges have struggled with limited access to up-to-date academic materials, heavily relying on imported textbooks that often fail to align with the country’s unique curriculum and educational needs.
To address this crisis, TETFund launched the Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project, a transformative initiative aimed at bridging this gap.
This project has so far provided crucial support for Nigerian scholars to write and publish textbooks that reflect the country’s academic standards and the realities of the local educational environment.
Through this initiative, TETFund has made significant strides, producing over 130 textbooks to date and continuing to enhance the availability of quality educational resources across Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
In 2009, the Board of Trustees of TETFund established the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ensure the effective implementation of the Higher Education Book Development Project.
TAG’s primary role was to collaborate with TETFund to refine the Book Development Blueprint into a strategic document, which included administrative procedures, frameworks, and guidelines for effective fund distribution.
The group’s work focused on three main areas: publication of academic books, conversion of high-quality theses into books, and support for professional association journals and academic publishing centers (APCs).
The lack of sufficient, high-quality tertiary-level textbooks became a critical issue in Nigeria, not just because of the limited quantity of books, but also due to the quality of locally produced publications. In response to this challenge, TETFund’s efforts were restructured.
In 2022, under the leadership of the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, significant progress was made. The reconstitution of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) led to a major boost in book production, with 80 TETFund-sponsored books in various subjects being published for public presentation.
This marked a significant improvement from previous years, where only 14 books were published in 2014, and no books were published after that, according to reports.
On Tuesday, March 2025, as part of continued efforts to address the scarcity of locally published textbooks, the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, also unveiled another 50 books to the public.
The Minister said 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.
He acknowledged that the lack of indigenously authored and produced textbooks in Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions had placed pressure on the demand for foreign exchange.
He also emphasised the importance of fostering a culture of quality authorship and producing books that not only meet local academic needs but also strengthen national pride and reduce dependency on foreign publications.
Alausa further stressed that the scarcity of textbooks had reached a crisis point, stating the significant impact that TETFund’s intervention has had in ensuring relevant instructional materials for Nigeria’s tertiary education institutions.
His said the initiative would contribute to improving the global ranking of Nigerian institutions and advancing national development.
“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 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.
“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).”
Also speaking, Echono said while TETFund’s initial efforts were modest, the progress made since 2022 had been substantial.
He said by June 2024, TAG reviewed and recommended 97 manuscripts for publication, resulting in the public presentation of 50 new titles.
This momentum, he said is expected to continue, with another 60 books scheduled for release by the end of 2025.
According to him, t 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).
He said members of TAG consist of academic experts drawn from the six-geopolitical zones, representatives of academic unions (ASUU, ASUP and COAESU) as well as the representatives of three Regulatory Bodies (NUC, NBTE and NCC).
“TAG was tasked with refining the Book Development Blueprint, transforming it into a strategic working document that would guide the Fund’s interventions in the area of Book Development, Journal Publication and academic publishing.
“Their efforts resulted in the establishment of clear procedures, frameworks, and guidelines to govern the distribution of TETFund’s Higher Education Book Development Intervention Funds.
“The impact of these interventions cannot be overstated. So far, One Hundred and Thirty (130) manuscripts have successfully passed through rigorous review processes and been published as textbooks, with more manuscripts currently under review.”
The Chairman of TAG, Professor Albert Abegunde, emphasised the importance of education in shaping a nation’s future.
He said TAG’s work under TETFund aims to produce textbooks that promote literacy, preserve culture, foster research, and expand technology, saying that the 50 books presented in 2023 covered diverse fields, including medicine, agriculture, law, technology, and more.
Looking ahead, he said TAG plans to double the number of textbooks published by TETFund over the next year with a focus on digitisation and open accessibility to ensure that textbooks are easily accessible to students and institutions nationwide.
“The 50 books were commissioned by TETFund to five publishing houses. They are Academic Publishing Centre (APC) Press- University of Calabar, Calabar; APC Press- Uthman-Dan-Fodio University, Sokoto; Ahmadu Bello University Press, Zaria; University of Jos Press, Jos; and Obafemi Awolowo University Press, Ile Ife.
“The 50 TSAB being presented today can be categorised under 9 areas. Specifically, 5 are on Medicine and Pharmacy, 11 are on Art, Culture and literature, 2 are on Law, 6 on Technology and Engineering, 2 on Mathematics, 7 focus 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.
“A book titled Pedagogic Principles for Students and Practicing Pedagogues has the highest number of pages (1,281). The least being 94 pages. They were written by single and joint authors, and coordinating editors.
“Of these theoretically sound TSAB, 10 specifically contained practical applications with industrial relations, 3 aimed at transformation through good culture and quality governance while 2 aimed at alleviating food and socio insecurities.”
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