By Akor Comfort
The Federal Government has inaugurated a Book Ranking and Selection Committee to enhance the quality, standardisation, and affordability of textbooks in Nigerian schools. The initiative seeks to reform the current textbook approval process, which has been criticised for allowing poor-quality materials, lack of consistency, and placing excessive financial burdens on parents.
Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said the existing system failed to properly validate and rank textbooks before approval. As a result, some subjects have as many as 50 approved books, with no clear benchmarks for quality.
Dr. Alausa also criticised publishers for bundling workbooks and consumables with core textbooks, a practice that forces parents to purchase new editions yearly and imposes unnecessary financial pressure on families.
“The new committee’s work is both timely and strategic,” he said. “You are expected to critically review the current approval frameworks, recommend stronger assessment and ranking systems, define clear quality benchmarks, and propose mechanisms that ensure genuine content improvement before new editions are approved. You are also expected to address issues of pricing transparency, edition control, separation of textbooks from consumable materials, and protection of learners and parents from financial exploitation.”
Under the new framework, while regulatory agencies may approve multiple textbooks per subject, only seven textbooks per subject will be officially ranked and recommended for use in schools, particularly under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) system. Once ranked, textbooks will remain in use for a minimum of three years, except in cases where major curriculum or technological updates require revision.
The committee will be chaired by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, and includes representatives from key education agencies such as the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), UBEC, the National Teachers’ Institute, and the National Senior Secondary Education Commission.
Prof. Ahmad assured that the committee is committed to reforming the textbook approval process to guarantee learners access to high-quality instructional materials. “Currently, as long as a textbook meets the minimum standard, it is approved, without any benchmark to determine whether it is of grade A, B, or C quality,” she said.
Also speaking, NERDC Executive Secretary Prof. Salisu Shehu said the initiative will end arbitrary book selection in schools and ensure that only the best instructional materials are adopted nationwide.
The Federal Ministry of Education urged parents, educators, and stakeholders to support the reforms and to rely on official communication channels for accurate information regarding textbook selection and approval.
