The Federal Government through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has unveiled 10 textbooks published under the Higher Education Book Project.
At a public presentation of the Textbooks in Abuja, Education minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu said the gesture is targeted to address the paucity of indigenous authored books and related academic publications in the nations tertiary education institutions.
Represented by the minister of state for Education, Hon Goodluck Nanah Opiah, Adamu expressed optimism that the intervention will reduce dominance of books published from outside the country with huge resultant effects on demand for foreign exchange.
Commending TETFUND for establishing the Higher Education Book Development project to tackle scarcity of tertiary level textbooks which has before now reached a crisis proportion, the minister said it will ensure quality books are churned out by Nigerian authors.
Also speaking at the event, Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, who expressed delight over the quality of the 10 books, said additional 30 books sponsored by the Fund would be unveiled before the end of the year even as he assured of the readiness of the agency to sponsor production of 50 textbooks in 2023.
Other speakers in their remarks highlighted the importance of the intervention to the nations education system.
High point of the event, which also attracted authors, academic staff unions and heads of education agencies, among others, was the public presentation of the TETFund sponsored books by the minister of state for education.
