The Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) has strongly criticized the recently introduced textbook ranking policy of the Federal Ministry of Education, describing it as a flawed initiative that could negatively impact the education sector, publishing industry, and employment opportunities across the country.
Speaking at a press conference monitored by Freedom Square TV at the Lagos Airport Hotel in Ikeja on Tuesday, the association expressed concerns that the policy promotes bias, lacks transparency, and could create an unfair system that produces both winners and losers among publishers.
The association argued that the ranking framework is susceptible to subjectivity and secrecy, warning that it does not inspire confidence due to what it described as deficiencies in credibility, openness, and fairness.
Addressing journalists on the ministry’s new textbook ranking policy, the President of the Nigerian Publishers Association, Alhaji Lukman Dauda, revealed that the Association had previously engaged with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) regarding the proposed policy. According to him, despite widespread opposition from publishers and other stakeholders, NERDC insisted that implementation plans had already been concluded and were ready to take effect.
Dauda lamented that the association, which plays a major role in Nigeria’s educational publishing industry, was not adequately consulted before the policy was developed. He stressed that any effort to reform the education sector should be carried out in a transparent and constitutional manner while ensuring quality, fairness, accessibility, and sustainability.
He announced that the association had completely rejected the policy and called on the Federal Government to withdraw it immediately.
According to him, the association’s position is based on concerns over the policy’s potential consequences for educational development, healthy competition within the publishing sector, and constitutional governance.
Providing details of the proposed framework, Alhaji Dauda explained that publishers would be required to submit textbooks to NERDC for assessment after paying designated evaluation fees. Books that score a minimum of 70 per cent would qualify for a second stage of the process, which would require additional payments before proceeding to ranking.
He further disclosed that the cost of textbook evaluation has risen sharply under the proposed arrangement. While publishers previously paid N200 per page for assessment, the fee has reportedly increased to N2,000 per page, a development the association believes will significantly increase the cost of publishing educational materials.
The second phase of the process, he said, involves ranking approved textbooks, adding that NERDC informed stakeholders that implementation timelines had already been fixed and would commence immediately.
The association also questioned the suitability of the policy, arguing that it appears to have been adopted from countries whose educational environments differ significantly from Nigeria’s.
According to the NPA, many of the countries where similar ranking systems exist have fewer than one million students at the combined basic and secondary education levels and fewer than ten active educational publishers. In some instances, their total populations are smaller than that of a single Nigerian state.
The publishers further noted that some of those countries are already reviewing the effectiveness of such policies and considering adjustments or outright reversal.
In contrast, the association pointed out that Nigeria has an estimated 60 million students, including about 30 million in public schools and 29 million in private institutions, alongside more than 200 educational publishing companies actively operating within the sector.
The NPA warned that implementing the policy under Nigeria’s current realities could have far-reaching consequences for textbook affordability, educational access, industry competition, and job creation, urging the government to reconsider its position in the interest of the nation’s education system.