FG slashes textbook assessment fees, approves refund for publishers

Mariam Abeeb

The Federal Government through the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has approved a downward review of fees for the assessment and ranking of textbooks, a move aimed at easing the financial burden on publishers and authors ahead of the implementation of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System.

The review was announced in a statement personally signed by the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Salisu Shehu, and made available to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to the Council, the assessment fee has been reduced from N2,000 to N1,500 per page, while the fee for ranking textbooks has been cut from N1 million to N750,000 per title.

The Council stated that publishers and authors submitting textbooks for assessment are to make payments based on the revised rates with immediate effect.

NERDC also disclosed that publishers who had already paid the previous assessment fee of N2,000 per page would receive refunds of the excess payment, adding that the procedure for processing the refunds would be announced soon.

The Council said the revised fees take immediate effect and urged all stakeholders in the book industry to comply with the new directive.

The review comes ahead of the commencement of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System, an initiative introduced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, to standardise learning materials used in Nigerian schools.

Under the policy, which takes effect from September 2026, only textbooks that have been assessed, approved and ranked by NERDC will be permitted for use in classrooms, while unranked textbooks will be prohibited.

The Minister had explained that the initiative was designed to address the proliferation of textbooks in schools and ensure that learners and teachers have access only to high-quality, curriculum-compliant instructional materials.

He also maintained that NERDC would continue to exercise its statutory responsibility of approving textbooks for use in Nigerian schools, but that approval alone would no longer be sufficient.

According to the new policy approved textbooks would undergo a structured national evaluation and ranking process by expert committees to identify the most suitable and highest-quality books for each subject and level of education.