Centres of excellence: How TETFund is addressing publishing challenges in Nigerian tertiary institutions

Amid the challenging economic situation confronting the nation, the publishing industry is not spared in the complex array of problems. One of the biggest challenges has been the lack of infrastructure, including inadequate distribution networks, poor access to electricity and unreliable internet access. These make it difficult for publishers to reach a wide audience and also reduce the types of content they can produce.

In addition to lack of training and investment in the industry, which limit the resources available for innovation and growth, the industry is also bedeviled with intellectual property theft including book piracy, which negatively impacts its operations.

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) stated that the country loses $3 billion to piracy annually. According to industry experts, this undermines the profitability of the industry and makes it difficult for authors to earn a living from their work.

To combat this trend, the University of Abuja has announced the establishment of an International Institute for Publishing Studies. Vice Chancellor of UniAbuja, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said recently that the institute was put in place to facilitate training of manpower in the area of printing and publishing in Nigeria and across the world. He added that the academic programme is expected to attract students from within and outside the shores of the country.

The bold initiative, he said, was aimed at promoting academic standards, ethical and professional values in publishing studies and profession in Nigeria and globally.

The don, who paid a glowing tribute to the Arc. Sonny Echono-led Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for constructing the institute, said the new programme would provide opportunities for practical learning with state-of-the-art facilities and networking with renowned international scholars from the United Kingdom and the United States, among others.

The new development is expected to boost local capacity in the production of tertiary level textbooks and related academic publications in the country. Na’Allah described as profound the impact of TETFund’s intervention efforts on the tertiary education sector. While applauding the agency over its interventions in the advancement of tertiary education, the academic said that such interventions have changed the face of infrastructural developments in public higher institutions across the country.

“I also want to thank TETFund; because if you go out, you will see a new building. That is the publishing house that was built for us by TETFund,” he said.
While lamenting the poor quality of publishing in the country, the VC said the new master’s programme offered by the institute would be a game changer and meet the needs of Nigeria and the rest of the world.

“Printers are everywhere in this nation but there is no institution that is training them, and we feel that at the University of Abuja, we have that responsibility as the university in the nation’s capital to bring out ideas and activities that will respond to our needs.

“Universities are suffering and in Nigeria, we have many publishers that don’t know the need for academic work when they publish. People just pay them and they get their works published. Even some universities have what they call printing presses. They are not academic presses; they just see it as business. You go through them and you are really ashamed of the productions that are coming out of them,” he said.

In 2020, the agency announced that it would spend N10 billion to develop ‘critical infrastructure’ at the institution. Recall that the Fund had designated the University of Abuja as a Centre of Excellence.

The Guardian reports that the funds are currently being used for the construction of iconic projects including a new senate building, 1,000-capacity International Conference Centre, a 2,000-bed space accommodation for students, facilitating e-learning in the tertiary institution, among others.

In the 2023 Annual Direct Disbursements, the Fund had provided a budget of N30 billion for High Impact Projects in selected institutions across its three tiers of beneficiaries in the six geo-political zones across the country.

Allocated under TETFund’s Special High Impact Intervention, six universities got N3 billion each, while N1 billion each was given to six polytechnics and six Colleges of Education spread across the geo-political zones.

The six beneficiary institutions that received the Special High Impact Intervention project included: IBB University, Lapai, Niger State from North Central zone; Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State from North-East; Federal University, Birni-Kebbi from North-West; Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences from South East; Edo State University in South-South and Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State from South West.

The beneficiary polytechnics included Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara; Federal Polytechnic, Gombe; Federal Polytechnic, Kabo, Kano; Anambra State Polytechnic, Mgbakwu; Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny; and Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo- Ora.

The beneficiary colleges of education were Plateau State College of Education, Gindiri; Federal College of Education, Yola; Federal College of Education, Zaria; Enugu State College of Education, Enugu; Delta State College of Education, Mosogar and Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu.