Author and journalist Ejiro Umukoro has called on the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to suspend its proposed textbook ranking system, warning that the policy could place additional financial burdens on publishers, authors and parents.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Umukoro criticised the proposed framework, arguing that it could worsen existing challenges within Nigeria’s publishing industry.
“They need to pause this particular exercise they are about to start,” she said.
According to Umukoro, the framework could undermine the intellectual and financial investments of authors and publishers while increasing the cost of educational materials.
“It is a situation where there is a hijack of the intellectual capacity and capital outflows from publishers and authors alike,” she stated.
She stated that publishers are already contending with rising production costs, including the absence of functional paper mills in the country.
“We do not have one single functional paper mill industry in Nigeria,” she said.
Umukoro questioned the justification for the fees attached to the proposed textbook assessment process, arguing that the additional costs could threaten the survival of many publishing businesses.
“Are you trying to make me survive or are you trying to strangle me and make sure I am dead?” she asked.
She warned that the financial implications of the policy would ultimately be transferred to parents through higher textbook prices.
“The people who are going to suffer the consequences of all of this are parents,” she said.
Umukoro further emphasized that education should not be treated as a commercial venture at the expense of students and families.
“Children are no longer seen as the foundation of a society’s development,” she stated.
She also questioned the transparency of the proposed ranking process, asking how textbooks would be assessed and graded.
“Who decides what is 70 per cent? What are the criteria?” she asked.
According to Umukoro, stakeholders in the publishing and education sectors were not adequately consulted before the framework was introduced.
“We need to have a proper stakeholder meeting,” she said.
She urged the council to suspend the planned implementation and engage publishers, authors and other stakeholders in broader consultations.
“They should put a halt to it,” she stated.
Umukoro also stated that unresolved curriculum implementation challenges should be addressed before introducing a new ranking system.
“As we speak, the last curriculum implementation has not even been effected,” she said.
Umukoro called on the NERDC to suspend the proposed textbook ranking framework and engage stakeholders in extensive consultations, arguing that the current plan could increase costs for publishers and parents while creating additional challenges for Nigeria’s education sector.
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