The Nigerian Publishers Association has asked the Federal High Court in Ibadan to halt the implementation of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council’s new textbook ranking policy, challenging the council’s authority to subject previously approved textbooks to another compulsory ranking exercise.
The suit, marked FHC/IB/CS/117/26, lists the President, NERDC, the Minister of Education and the Attorney-General of the Federation as defendants. A copy of the suit was obtained by our correspondent on Friday.
The NPA is challenging the requirement that textbooks already assessed, approved and certified for use must undergo another ranking exercise before they can continue to be used, distributed, procured or sold.
The association is also contesting the compulsory ranking fee attached to the exercise and asking the court to determine whether regulations introduced under the NERDC Act can take effect without the required presidential approval and publication in the Federal Gazette.
According to the association, the central issue before the court is whether NERDC has the statutory authority to impose the additional requirement on publishers.
