By MILLICENT IFEANYICHUKWU

The Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) has urged the Federal Ministry of Education to review its proposed textbook ranking policy, emphasising the need for broader stakeholder consultation and transparency.

Mr Lukman Dauda, the President of NPA, made the appeal on Wednesday in Ikeja at a press conference organised by the association on issues of national importance relating to the book industry, education, publishing, and the future of learning in Nigeria.

Dauda stressed that the association supported reforms that would significantly improve educational quality, accountability and learning outcomes, but expressed concerns about the ranking aspect.

He recalled that the Federal Ministry of Education announced the policy on April 27, 2026, as part of efforts to standardise textbook selection nationwide.

He said the publishers’ association subsequently rejected the proposal but later welcomed Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC)’s invitation for engagement, believing meaningful consultation could address concerns raised by stakeholders.

According to him, a formal meeting held last week Tuesday, June 2 at NERDC headquarters in Abuja provided additional details on the proposed implementation framework and timelines.

Dauda said publishers would submit books for assessment after paying prescribed fees, while successful submissions would proceed to a separate ranking stage.

He noted that implementation timelines had already been fixed before consultations concluded, raising concerns about whether stakeholders’ contributions would meaningfully influence the policy’s final outcome.

“We welcomed the engagement in good faith and expected consultations to provide opportunities for genuine consideration of stakeholders’ concerns and practical recommendations,” he said.

The NPA president maintained that the existing textbook evaluation process had provided an objective framework over the years and should be strengthened rather than replaced entirely.

“Where weaknesses exist within the current evaluation framework, they should be addressed through improvements instead of introducing a ranking system with unintended consequences,” Dauda stated.

He noted that Nigeria’s educational environment differed significantly from countries where similar policies had been adopted, given its population, student enrolment and publishing industry.

According to him, Nigeria has about 60 million students and more than 200 active educational publishers serving learners across public and private schools nationwide.

“Nigeria’s educational realities require solutions tailored to our circumstances rather than direct adoption of models developed for smaller and less complex systems,” he said.

Dauda warned that ranking textbooks could create market distortions by concentrating opportunities among a limited number of publishers at the expense of others.

He said such an outcome could discourage investment, reduce competition and negatively affect employment within the educational publishing sector and related industries.

The NPA president also noted that many firms are still aligning learning materials with the newly introduced curriculum and required adequate transition periods for implementation.

“Educational reforms achieve better outcomes when teachers, publishers, schools and other stakeholders are given sufficient time to prepare for implementation,” he said.

Dauda further expressed concerns that limited implementation timelines could create shortages, if only a few publishers are expected to meet nationwide textbook demand.

He also raised constitutional questions, noting that education fell within the Concurrent Legislative List and required cooperation between the Federal and state governments.

On affordability, he questioned whether assessment and ranking charges could increase costs within the educational value chain and ultimately affect parents and students.

“Any reform aimed at improving access and affordability should carefully examine policies capable of increasing costs across the educational ecosystem,” he stated.

As an alternative, Dauda proposed maintaining rigorous evaluation standards while approving all textbooks that successfully met prescribed national curriculum requirements and benchmarks.

He recommended publishing approved textbook lists showing subjects, titles, authors and publishers instead of ranking books against one another.

The NPA President said, “We support accountability, quality assurance and higher standards, but reforms should preserve fairness, innovation, accessibility, competition and consumer choice.”

Dauda called on the ministry, NERDC, state governments, educators, school proprietors, parents and other stakeholders to sustain dialogue before implementing the policy. (NAN)