THE Federal Government has earmarked the sum of N4.9 billion for Book Development Fund to restore the culture of research and high-quality academic publishing within the higher education sub-sector in the country.
Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Professor Suleiman Bogoro, who made this known on Thursday in Abuja, described as worrisome the poor quality of most academic publications in Nigeria, saying this leaves much to be desired.
He spoke while inaugurating the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Book Development fund to be chaired by Prof Charles Awo.
Bogoro lamented the critical paucity of indigenously produced tertiary level textbooks and related academic publications in the nation’s tertiary education institutions.
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“It is equally worrisome that the quality of most academic publications in our country leaves much to be desired,” he said.
According to him, the Federal Government through TETFund, created the Book Development Fund Intervention with a seed grant of N2 billion as approved by the Board of Trustees of the Fund.
He added that an additional sum of N2.9 billion was added to the seed grant, making a total of N4,950,000,000.00, which is being used centrally for the development of manuscripts into textbooks.
He noted that out of this figure, N2.5 billion has been utilized for the intended purpose, explaining that the Book Development Fund intervenes in three key areas namely: “development and publication of academic books as well as the conversion of the high-quality thesis into a book.
“Support for professional associations journals and the establishment and sustainability of academic publishing centres.”
He said there was ongoing construction of seven publishing centres in at least one university in each of the six geopolitical zones and Federal Capital Territory with the aim of reviving quality academic publishing in tertiary institutions.
He said: “It is expected that nurturing the culture of quality authorship and the production of indigenous books will not only ensure the availability of relevant books in diverse subject areas that take cognizance of our local environment and sensibilities, it would also safeguard national pride.
“While it true that foreign books are helpful, an indigenous book industry is needed to provide opportunities for nation’s writers and artists.
“The gross insufficiency of standard tertiary level literature in our libraries and bookshops further underscore the urgent need to come up with targeted strategies to encourage the production of textbooks for tertiary education institutions,” he said.
The terms of reference of the Technical Advisory Group include harvesting doctorate theses and master’s dissertation from across beneficiary institutions for possible conversion into a book.
The Group was also mandated to screen proposals on manuscripts and dissertations for development into academic textbooks and advise TETFund on fundable manuscripts among others.