Minister of Education Tunji Alausa on Friday said that textbooks scoring below 70 percent will be excluded from the federal government’s official ranking, after Nigeria’s first national textbook assessment found wide quality gaps, including titles that scored as little as 25 percent.
Dr. Alausa, received the assessment and ranked list produced by the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), calling the exercise part of a broader quality-assurance push tied to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
A statement by Ikharo Attah his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, said the ranking system aims to align instructional materials with a revised national curriculum introduced in September 2025.
“The assessment shows some of the books being used in our schools…are trash,” Dr. Alausa said.
“Some of these books are scoring 25% or lower. Is this the way our children should be educated? If this happened with the government, it will not happen with this government.”
NERDC designed a standardized assessment toolkit benchmarked against international practice, the statement said.
Dr. Alausa said the curriculum will be reviewed every three years to remain responsive to changing educational and societal needs.
Alausa described the exercise as a quality-control measure rather than a punitive move against publishers.
“I’m giving you the olive branch,” he said, commending publishers who participated despite what he described as pressure and blackmail.
Curriculum alignment accounted for the largest share of the overall score, 51 percent; other components included language and style, instructional design, technical features, social and cultural compliance, and gender sensitivity.
The 70 percent threshold is intended to ensure a base level of quality while allowing publishers whose titles fall short to correct deficiencies and resubmit, Minister Alauasa said.
He urged the Nigerian Publishers Association and affected firms to study the report and take corrective action, saying the government would work with those willing to meet the benchmark.
Professor Salisu Shehu, NERDC’s Executive Secretary said subject specialists, education experts and council staff conducted the reviews using an approved scoring framework and peer review to reduce subjectivity.
He described the 70 percent mark as the minimum for inclusion on the ranked list and said scores as low as 25 percent underscored the need for a transparent, evidence-based mechanism to assess instructional materials.
The national assessment is being rolled out in three cycles to cover the full basic and senior secondary curricula: cycle one for Primary 1 and 4, Junior Secondary School 1 and Senior Secondary School 1; cycle two for Primary 2 and 5, JSS2 and SS2; and cycle three for Primary 3 and 6, JSS3 and SS3.
NewsQuest reports that the effort forms part of the government’s stated priority to raise educational standards under the Renewed Hope Agenda and to ensure that textbooks used by Nigerian learners are accurate, curriculum-aligned and fit for purpose.
