36 professors, others produce ETF book development project blueprint
By Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi
AFTER three major sessions and a few minor ones spanning several weeks, a group of intellectuals from federal universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, federal regulatory agencies, the private sector and the media has finally come up with a draft blueprint on how the Education Trust Fund (ETF) Book Development Project could be executed.
But the blueprint did not emerge that easily. At each full session, the intellectuals had behaved true to type: engaging one another in several robust, informed arguments and counter arguments, that had led to either a frown or general laughter, but at the end of which everybody appeared fulfilled.
The crux of the matter, really, is how the N2 billion set aside by the Federal Government to revive and encourage the production and consumption of academic texts in tertiary institutions across the country should be utilised. The ETF, which is holding the money in trust for the country, had quickly assembled various stakeholders under the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), to deliberate on the best options to adopt for maximum benefits.
And at the end of deliberations last week in Abuja, not only did the TAG come up with an Implementation Plan, it also issued a communiquŽ, which outlined the activities to be embarked upon as the project unfolds. According to the document, a national campaign will be launched to revive the reading culture in tertiary institutions, through Reading Competitions and formation of Reading Clubs within the next few months. Capacity building workshops are to be organised in all the geo Ð political zones to enhance capacity for indigenous book production and journals in NigeriaÕs educational institutions. Academic Journals of Professional Associations are to be reactivated and sustained. University publishing houses are to be resuscitated and strengthened. Basic tertiary level textbooks, manuscripts and doctoral theses are also to be published.
With Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, a Deputy Vice Chancellor at the Bayero University, Kano as the chairman, the TAG had approached the assignment by establishing five working groups to treat five different identified segments. Group A, which handled Literacy and Promotion of Reading Culture, came up with four major recommendations. The first is to design and carry out a National Reading campaign, with the goal of sensitising the nation on the need to promote the reading culture. President Umaru YarÕ Adua is to lead the campaign.
Under this first recommendation, six major activities have been lined up to hold between November 30 and January next year. The first is to organise an essay competition for students in tertiary institutions in the various zones. This will be undertaken by both the TAG and the Federal Ministry of Education.
The second plan is to invite the President, in conjunction with the National Assembly and top judicial officers to launch a National Reading campaign. In the third phase, a book week, book fairs and exhibitions for students and lecturers, in partnership with publishers are to be organised. A competition of short essays will also be unveiled at the fourth stage, to entice students. Prizes will be awarded. In the final activity, students will be exposed to book production processes.
With regard to the second recommendation, a programme will be carried out to revive the reading culture at all levels. Under this, six zonal stakeholdersÕ forums are to be organised, with students, alumni associations, authors and publishers as the target audience.
The third recommendation involves the mass media campaign to promote the reading culture in the six zones. Bill boards are to be produced, adverts placed, television and radio campaigns will also be embarked upon using jingles. Formation of Reading Clubs in the universities, polytechnics and colleges of Education is the final recommendation.
Group B, which handled Sensitization and Capacity Building, arrived at three recommendations with a time frame of between November 2009 and March 2010. The first action will be to sensitise and promote the need for indigenous Nigerian book production and reading culture, by holding workshops in the six-geo political zones. The target audience would include vice chancellors, rectors, media executives, book publishers, professional associations, authors, parastatals and indigenous language translators
The second action will be to prepare a training manual to be used for the zonal workshops for the writers and editors of tertiary books and journals. The final activity will be to organise capacity building workshops to address Òthe obvious inadequate skills within tertiary institutions for the writing and editing of books and journals.Ó
For Group C, the members of which brainstormed on Journals Publication, three recommendations were made. Under the first, which advocated the provision of grants to identified professional associations/societiesÕ journals, the goal is to upgrade the quality of professional journals across the countryÕs tertiary institutions. Members of this group are to identify the various professional associations, their journals, establish contact with them, meet with presidents and editors ÐinÐchief of such identified journals, and demand presentation of copies published over the last five years. Its will also disburse funds and inspect produced journals and their websites.
The groupÕs second recommendation involves capacity building for production, indexing, abstracting and accessing of the journals. The third action would be the purchase and distribution of the identified professional journals. The goal here will be to sustain the production of such journals and achieve increased circulation and readership. Time frame is between November 2009 and November 2010.
Enter Group D, which was saddled with the responsibility: Revitalizing University Presses. Members of this group made four recommendations. According to them, the capacity of institutions of higher learning to produce quality academic manuscripts for publishing should be enhanced. The envisaged goals are to: Update knowledge, skills and competence for academic publishing in tertiary institutions; help higher institutions develop and nurture the culture of serious academic research and publishing; encourage the emergence of credible publishing houses in tertiary institutions, and enhance capacity for interface with printing and marketing outfits.
The second recommendation: ÒSteps should be taken to enhance capacity of tertiary institutions for e Ð publishing.Ó The goals here are to: bring academic publications in line with the current state of the art technology; empower Nigeria higher institutions to participate in the global trend of knowledge, and to, among others, increase the visibility and enhance the webometric rating of NigeriaÕs institutions of higher learning.
The group also suggested that steps should be taken to develop a framework for the circulation and distribution of published academic materials. The last recommendation: Provision should be made for monitoring and evaluation.Ó The time frame for the execution of the recommendations is between December this year and March 2010.
The last Group, E, covered Books Publications. Five major steps are to be taken between this month and December 2010. The first recommendation was that, Ph.D theses, positively assessed by the National Universities Commission (NUC), Ôshould be published.Õ The step here is for all NUC assessed theses that scored 70 per cent and above to be collected. A re-evaluation of selected theses will be carried out to determine their suitability for publication.
The groupÕs second recommendation was that Ph.D theses not assessed by the NUC should also be published. Universities will be asked to set up assessment committees to determine suitability for publication. Advertisements are also to be placed in three major newspapers to sensitise Ph.D graduates, just expert assessors are to be identified among others.
The group also recommended an intervention in the publication of quality manuscripts in specialised subject areas. Besides, it submitted that textbooks in higher education should be produced in many disciplines. The Nigerian edition of some relevant but rare, expensive basic textbooks published abroad, the group also recommended, should be produced. University presses are to be assisted to acquire publication rights of every relevant textbooks that are not available locally.
