By Jumoke Olaitan
The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has approved a downward review of fees for the assessment and ranking of textbooks ahead of the implementation of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System.
The Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Salisu Shehu, announced the review in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
Shehu said the assessment fee had been reduced from N2,000 to N1,500 per page, while the ranking fee had been cut from N1 million to N750,000 per textbook title.
He said publishers and authors submitting textbooks for assessment should make payments based on the revised rates with immediate effect.
He said that publishers who had already paid the former assessment fee of N2,000 per page would receive refunds of the excess payment.
”The procedure for processing the refunds will be announced in due course,” he said.
The executive secretary urged publishers, authors and other stakeholders in the book industry to comply with the new directive.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the review comes ahead of the commencement of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System scheduled to take effect in September 2026.
Under the policy introduced by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, only textbooks assessed, approved and ranked by NERDC will be permitted for use in Nigerian schools, while unranked textbooks will no longer be allowed in classrooms.
The minister had said the initiative was aimed at standardising learning materials, eliminating the proliferation of substandard textbooks and ensuring that learners and teachers had access to high-quality, curriculum-compliant instructional materials.
Alausa also explained that while NERDC would continue to approve textbooks in line with its statutory mandate, such approval alone would no longer qualify books for classroom use.
According to him, approved textbooks will undergo a national evaluation and ranking process by expert committees to determine the most suitable and highest-quality books for each subject and level of education.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Funmilayo Adeyemi