The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) has cut the cost of textbook assessment and ranking.
They have also directed that publishers who paid the previous, higher assessment fees be refunded, in a move aimed at easing the financial burden on stakeholders ahead of the implementation of the Federal Government’s National Textbook Ranking System.
The decision was announced in a statement personally signed by the Executive Secretary of the Council, Prof. Salisu Shehu, and released on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to the statement, the assessment fee has been reduced “from N2,000 to N1,500 per page, while the ranking fee has been reviewed downward from N1 million to N750,000 per textbook title.”
Prof. Shehu said the revised charges take immediate effect and are intended to support publishers and authors participating in the new textbook evaluation process.
He also announced that publishers who had already paid the former assessment fee of N2,000 per page would receive refunds of the excess payment.
“Publishers who had already paid the previous assessment fee of N2,000 per page will receive refunds of the excess payment, while the procedure for processing the refunds will be announced soon,” the statement said.
The Council added that “publishers and authors submitting textbooks for assessment are to make payments based on the revised rates with immediate effect.”
