Publishers bemoan high cost of book reviews by Ministries of Education – The Whistler Nigeria

The Nigerian Publishers Association (NPA) on Tuesday denounced the high amounts that federal and state ministries charge publishers and authors to review their books before recommending them.

Association President Dr Uchenna Anioke said in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER in Enugu.

He said “the book review exercise is a way to assess the quality and standard of educational materials to be used by pupils and students in any state without revenue generation”, and regretted that some government departments have converted the exercise into income generation.

According to him, “it also aims to provide our many students with up-to-date books.

“Members of the association had paid a lot for this exercise in recent years. In fact, it is common knowledge that some state education departments have boldly declared exercise to be one of the ways they generate income.

“It’s sad, considering the huge taxes publishers pay to the government and the levies paid to get books to end users.

“The publishers had paid a lump sum for the financial year which had now risen to charges per title amounting to millions of naira per financial year per company in each state of the federation.

“In addition to this, there is the submission of a large number of books involved free of charge to the ministries. Unfortunately, adding huge review fees to the already precarious publishing industry would compound publishers’ problems and affect the prices charged on books.

“It would also affect the accessibility of pupils and students to books and hinder the educational goals of governments.”

He called on the main players in education to “intervene in this dossier and curb the excesses of the ministries”.