The new National Book Ranking Policy may cause unintended damage to the nation’s publishing industry, writes BOLAJI ADEBIYI
Another storm is gathering in Nigeria’s education sector. At the end of April this year, the Federal Ministry of Education promulgated the National Book Ranking Policy, which limits approved textbooks to the top seven per subject for three years and bans the use of unranked books in primary and secondary schools, regardless of prior licensing.
According to the ministry, which regulates the country’s educational standards, the ranking system aims to significantly reduce the excessive number of textbooks currently in circulation in many schools, a situation that has often created confusion for teachers, students and parents. It said the reform also aims to bring greater transparency, order and quality assurance into the textbook approval process while aligning Nigeria’s education system with international best practices in instructional material standardisation.
It tasked the National Educational Research and Development Council with ranking, in addition to its book licensing responsibilities, and mandated that unranked textbooks would not be permitted in the nation’s primary and secondary schools. Under the policy, publishers were to submit their samples for assessment, grading and ranking by 18 July 2026, with the policy taking effect in September.
