by The Minister of State for Education (Middle) Goodluck Opiah and other Chief Executives at the presentation of the books in Abuja
The Federal Government on Tuesday moved to end the dominance of foreign publications in the tertiary institutions as it unveiled 10 new textbooks sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund.
At the public presentation of the books in Abuja, Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said the dependent on foreign academic publications portends great danger to the nation’s education sector, adding that boosting indigenous authorship would address the problem.
Mallam Adamu, was represented by Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nana Opiah, who expressed worry over the quality of most academic publications in our country.
“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 overtime. 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.
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, ”
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, expressed delight over the quality of the books, and additional 30 books sponsored by the Fund which would be unveiled before the end of the year.
He gave assurance of the readiness of the agency to sponsor production of 50 textbooks in 2023.
The TETFund boss also revealed that the Fund has provided support to ensure all the Academic Publishing Centres in the country become fully operational.
” There are seven of them across the country, when we came in March only University of Lagos academic publishing centre was fully functional and running, a few of them had little issues, some equipment, other contractual issues, we have resolved all of them now.
High point of the event, was the public presentation of the TETFund sponsored books which include Principles of Veterinary Surgery : A Concise Text for Veterinary Students, Fundamental of Chemistry, Fundamental of Public Finance, Java for Beginners and Web Design and Programming for Beginners.
Others are, The Comparative Method and Civil-Military Relations, Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics for Engineers, A Guide to Teacher Competence Evaluation, Financial Deepening and Economic Growth in Nigeria and Motivational Factors and Teachers Efficiency in Secondary Schools.
Source: radionigeria
