Book Publishing in Nigeria

MAUDE RABIU GWADABEmrgwadabe.mac@buk.edu.ng

R00M B1-182, FIRST FLOOR, DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION,

BAYERO UNIVERSITY KANO

MAC 2212: INTRODUCTION TO BOOK PUBLISHING

Introduction• Book publishing in Nigeria is essentially private and unregulated

• Nigerian Publishers Association – the main professional body for book publishers – was established in 1965.

• Membership is open to publishers registered as limited liability companies in Nigeria that have published a stipulated number of books.

• Currently, NPA has 103 members.

• However, there are tens of thousands non-member publishers.

History of Book Publishing in Nigeria

• Pre-Colonial era

• Colonial era

• Early Independence era

• Onitsha Market Literature

• Indigenization of Publishing

• Kano Market Literature

Pre-Colonial

• Muslim scholars brought book to areas of Northern Nigeria ca. 700CE.

• Indigenous scholars in Kanem Bornu empire and Hausa states started writing books by the 800s CE.

• Christian missionaries brought books to Southern Nigeria in the 1600s CE.

• The 1804 Sokoto Jihad led to mass production of books by indigenous scholars and importation of foreign books

Colonial

• In Southern Nigeria, Christian missionaries and European commercial houses were the main book publishers

• In Northern Nigeria, the government was the main publisher of boko books.

• This difference was due to differences in the acceptance of European Education in the two protectorates.

Southern Nigeria

• The Church Missionary Society, CMS started publishing books in 1921.

• The Oxford University Press (West Africa) was established in 1949.

• OUP (WA)’s mission was mainly to publish English language books for non-native speakers.

• Educated Africans like Nnamdi Azikiwe started publishing books by the 1930s.

Northern Nigeria

• Translation Bureau was established in the 1930s

• The Bureau published translations and original Hausa manuscripts.

• To encourage fiction production it organized competitions.

• Northern Region Literature Agency (NORLA) was founded in 1954.

• NORLA was closed in 1959 due to massive losses.

• Arabic and Islamic books printed in Egypt and Lebanon.

Early Independence

• Dominance by the so-called Big Five European Publishers

• Oxford University Press (West Africa) 1948

• Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers) Limited 1956

• Longman Nigeria Plc 1961.

• Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) Plc 1962

• Macmillan Nigeria Publishers Limited 1963

Onitsha Market Literature

• Inexpensive pamphlets published in the 1950s and 60s by traders at the Onitsha market in Eastern Nigeria.

• It actually started in the 1940s with two books written by Cyprian Ekwensi but became popular in the 1960s.

• The pamphlets are mostly advice and romance literature as well as self-help books.

• Shortage of formal publishers and driven by market demand.

Indigenization

• In 1978, the Federal Government of Nigeria promulgated the Indigenization Decree.

• The Decree compels foreign publishing companies operating in Nigeria to sell 60% equity to Nigerians.

Kano Market Literature

• The growth of literacy in Northern Nigeria and lack of publishing companies led to the emergence of Kano Market Literature.

• Popular Romance novellas by semi-educated young adults.

Challenges

• Educational publishing dominates the industry

• Steady decline in profits

• Poor reading culture

• Lack of confidence by authors in the publishing companies

• High cost of production

• High level of piracy

Institutional Reactions

• 1983 Nigerian National Congress on Books,

• 1984 Task Force on the Scarcity of Books and Stationery,

• 1987 Panel on a Book Policy for Nigeria,

• 1989 ODA/ World Bank Books Sector Study,

• 1990 National Council on Education Committee Report on the Rationalization of Textbooks in Primary and Secondary Schools,

• 1990 British Council-sponsored Conference to debate the Books Sector Study, August-September

• 1990 Ministerial Committee on Provision of Books to Schools and Colleges,

• August 1993 Nigerian Educational Research & Development Council Review Workshop on Preferred Recommendations for solving the problems of theNigerian Book Industry and Formation of Implementation Strategies,

• April 1994National Conference on Book Development organized by the Nigerian BookFoundation on the theme "Making Books Readily and Affordable,” et cetera.