The Nigerian Government has reduced the fees charged for textbook assessment and ranking under the National Textbook Ranking System, while directing that publishers who paid the previous higher rates be refunded.
The decision was announced by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).
It said; “the review is intended to ease the financial burden on publishers and encourage greater participation in the government’s new textbook quality assurance programme.”
In a statement by the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Salisu Shehu, the Council said the revised charges take immediate effect and apply to all publishers and authors seeking to have their textbooks assessed and ranked.
“The assessment fee has been reduced from ₦2,000 to ₦1,500 per page, representing a 25 per cent reduction.
Similarly, the ranking fee has been lowered from ₦1 million to ₦750,000 for each textbook title submitted for evaluation,” he said.
The Executive Secretary said; “the review followed consultations with stakeholders and forms part of efforts to make the assessment process more accessible while maintaining the integrity of the national textbook evaluation exercise.”
“The revised fees will enable more publishers to participate in the programme without compromising the standards expected of educational materials used in Nigerian schools,” he said.
NERDC also directed that publishers who had already paid the former assessment fee of ₦2,000 per page would receive refunds of the excess amount, stressing that “details of the refund process would be communicated to affected publishers in due course.
The Council urged all publishers and authors submitting textbooks for assessment to begin making payments based on the newly approved rates with immediate effect, saying compliance with the revised fee structure would ensure the smooth implementation of the National Textbook Ranking System.
The fee reduction comes ahead of the rollout of the National Textbook Ranking System, which is scheduled to commence in September 2026.
The initiative, introduced by the Federal Ministry of Education is aimed at improving the quality of instructional materials used in public and private schools across Nigeria.
Under the policy, only textbooks that have been assessed, approved and ranked by NERDC will be recommended for classroom use. Books that fail to meet the required standards or are not ranked under the new system will no longer be approved for teaching in Nigerian schools.
