The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has reduced the fees for textbook assessment and ranking by 25 per cent ahead of the implementation of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, NERDC said the decision was aimed at easing the financial burden on publishers and authors preparing to submit textbooks for evaluation under the new policy.
The statement, signed by the Executive Secretary of the Council, Prof. Salisu Shehu, said the assessment fee has been reduced from ₦2,000 to ₦1,500 per page, while the ranking fee for each textbook has been cut from ₦1 million to ₦750,000.
According to the Council, the revised fees take immediate effect, and all publishers and authors are expected to comply with the new rates when submitting textbooks for assessment.
NERDC also announced that publishers who had already paid the previous assessment fee of ₦2,000 per page would be refunded the excess payment, adding that details of the refund process would be communicated in due course.
The fee reduction comes ahead of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System, scheduled to take effect in September 2026.
Under the new policy introduced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, only textbooks assessed, approved and ranked by NERDC will be authorised for use in Nigerian schools, while unranked textbooks will no longer be permitted in classrooms.
The policy is designed to improve the quality of instructional materials by ensuring that only curriculum-compliant and high-quality textbooks are recommended for teaching and learning across the country.
NERDC explained that while it will continue to approve textbooks in line with its statutory mandate, approval alone will no longer qualify a book for classroom use. Approved textbooks will also undergo a structured national evaluation and ranking process by expert panels to determine the most suitable titles for each subject and educational level.