Irrespective of challenges facing the sector at the moment, the administration of President Muhamadu Buhari places premium on the development of the education in the country.
This was made known on Tuesday by the Minister of State for Education, Rt Hon Goodluck Nanah Opiah.
In his address at the Public Presentation of Tetfund-Sponsored Books at the Conference Hall, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, the minister disclosed that President Muhamadu Buhari has value for the education sector, hence the need to appreciate his unflinching support and encouragement, the ministry of education is receiving from the federal government.
“I want to reiterate that the administration of Mr President recognized the place of education as the main driver of national growth since coming on board, hence the commitment in funding, massive infrastructural provision and policy repriorization towards content development and capacity building of the staff of our Public Tertiary Education Institutions”
On the Tetfund public presentation of sponsored books, the Minsiter who described the event as the a landmark one said that what the interventionist agency is doing is a laudable one considering the paucity of indigenously authored and produced tertiary level textbooks and related academic publication in the nation’s tertiary Institutions.
The minister said 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”
According to him “scarcity of tertiary level textbooks 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 the 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 Education Institutions in the country and reviewing the document(s) whenever the need arises. TETfund Bool Development Fund intervenes in the three key areas of publication of academic books and in the conversion of high-quality thesis into books, support for Professional Association Journals; and establishment and sustainability of Academic Publishing Centres, (APCs)”
Rt Hon Opiah who represented the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu at the occasion further expressed that teaching and research depend on relevant instructional materials such as published bolls and journals, monographs and other specialized reading materials as well as e-publishing of books and journals, adding that “the Government is giving more attention to publication through TETfund in a bid to provide adequate indigenous learning materials in our tertiary education institutions for national development and improve the global ranking of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
“It is worthy of note that so far seventy- seven manuscripts have passed through rigorous review processes by distinguished scholars and are ready for publication as books”
Earlier in the welcome address by the Chairman, TETfund Technical Advisory Group, TAG, Prof. O Charles Aworh said that the presentation is part of the programs of the intervention agency for the growth of the academic industry.
The Minister of State for Education on behalf of the Minister of Education joined by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr David Adejo, Executive Secretary of the TETfund, Arc. Sonny S.T. Echono, JAMB, NUC and top shots of other educational bodies to unveiled the books for public presentation.
