THE PROBLEMS OF INDIGENOUS BOOK PUBLISHING IN NIGERIA
ABSTRACT
Book publishing appears to be losing ground in the “community” of mass media, particularly in Africa. The significance of publishing is communication. Currently, the book is one of the most important tools for that purpose; however, little is known about book publishing, particularly in developing countries.
As a result, the purpose of this study was to investigate the issues surrounding indigenous book publishing in Nigeria, the most populous black nation. The study had three goals: to
discover the contributions that indigenous publishers are making to the development of the Nigerian economy, to investigate the challenges confronting the book industry, and to explore the opportunities available for book publishing.
The study’s theoretical framework was based on the libertarian theory of the media The questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument in the survey study. The study’s population consists of 361 individuals who work in an indigenous publishing firm in Nigeria. According to the findings, publishers are helping to grow the Nigerian economy.
The major challenges confronting the publishing industry include book piracy and a lack of infrastructure, while the prospects include an ever-expanding citizen population and a policy of compulsory basic education.
The study recommends, among other things, a collaborative approach to combating copyright violations that includes all stakeholders, including authors, printers, publishers, booksellers, the Nigerian Copyright Commission, and other law enforcement agencies.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Experts acknowledge the importance of book publishing to national development (Valdehuesa, 1985; Smith, 1989; Okoro, 1990; Ike, 2004; and Christopher, 2010). Book publishing encourages learning, advances knowledge, and connects various segments of the population:
technocrats with laypeople, scholars with students, leaders with followers, and storytellers with their audiences. It also bridges the gap between academia and the marketplace, between schools, communities, and nations, as well as between the past and the present and the present and the future (Valdehuesa, 1985, p. 710).
Book publishing is a vital industry in every country. It has an impact on every sector of the economy. Nigeria has a number of publishing companies, some of which are indigenous and a few of which are foreign in origin.
Longman Plc, now Learn Africa Plc, Macmillan Publishers Limited, Evans Brothers Publishers Limited, Spectrum Books Publishers Limited, Heinemann Educational Books Plc, and University Press Plc are among the few foreign ones that have also become indigenous (as a result of the 1978 indigenization policy).
The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree of 1978 mandated that at least 60% of equity participation in book publishing be held by Nigerian nationals. Despite the fact that the number of indigenous publishers has increased in recent years, the former remain the most prominent in the country (Ike, 2004, p.1).
According to Bankole (2005, p. 229), a remarkable achievement of the first generation of Nigerian publishers was that they had good relationships with their authors, and that this early set of publishers was instrumental in the discovery of the early geniuses of Nigerian literature—Amos Tutuola, John Pepper Clark, Chinua Achebe, and Wole Soyinka.
Book publishing in Nigeria is typically a free-for-all. The ability to secure an office space with a sign indicating that you are a publisher appears to be the most important requirement.
As a result, a number of printers have masqueraded as publishers. To a large extent, this resulted in the formation of the Nigeria Publishers Association (NPA) to govern the affairs of its members. Unlike its sister media (newspapers, magazines, and journals), book publishing is primarily a private sector endeavor.
Professor Chukwuemeka Ike explains why this is the case: publishing in Nigeria is primarily a private sector endeavor. Book publishing is one of Nigeria’s most unregulated industries due to the lack of pre-determined qualifications or conditions to be met.
All you need to do to become a publisher is put up a sign outside your office or home (Ike, 2004, p. 2). Individuals and groups appear to be left to publish by the government. Although the government still has parastatals or departments that handle printing, professional book publishing is handled or contracted to well-known publishers.
Books, like other sources of information and entertainment, have the power to change, influence, elevate, demean, exalt, or depress those who read them. What books are and can be is heavily dependent on the judgment, integrity, taste, and acumen of those who choose and produce them—publishers.
Thus, publishers play an important role not only in the marketplace, but also in the culture and civilization of which they are a part, and what distinguishes book publishing as a profession as well as a business is the publishers’ conscious pursuit of their responsibilities (Dessauer, 1981).
Any country that dabbles in book publishing is doomed to backwardness and obscurity because it fails to recognize the value of books. According to Okoro (1990), the importance of books in national and educational development cannot be overstated. Books occupy a unique place in human history.
Books record and preserve a nation’s literature, history, music, human achievements, and cultural heritage. Without books, people’s education and the transmission of ideas from one generation to the next would be difficult (Okoro, 1990, p. 199).
It has been widely observed that when the term “publishing” is mentioned, what immediately comes to mind is the publication of newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, leaving books, which are an important aspect of publishing, out.
As a result, book publishing appears to be taking a back seat in the “community” of mass media, particularly in a developing economy like Nigeria. Okoro (1990, p. 200) quoted Eva-Maria Rathgeber and stated, “..
.book publishing is a relatively unknown occupation in many African countries.” In many African countries, there is even more ambiguity about book publishing among the general populace.”
The preceding viewpoint is supported by Smith (1989, p. 3), who claims that the significance of book publishing “is not always understood and appreciated by people outside the book field.” Nigeria, as a developing economy, is facing numerous challenges, particularly in the education sector.
Experts have identified several factors as being responsible for this heinous incident, one of which is a lack of access to essential textbooks. “An examination of the publishing industry in any country must inevitably concern itself, not only with the economics of the production and distribution of books, but also with the educational and social implications of their supply and use,” writes White (1946, p. 58).
There are numerous challenges confronting the publishing industry. It is common to hear publishers accuse printers and booksellers of piracy, while authors accuse publishers of defrauding them through nonpayment or underpayment of royalties.
Readers, too, accuse booksellers of exorbitant pricing, while booksellers, in turn, blame publishers for the high price of books. Publishers deny it, claiming that they give generous discounts to booksellers whose greed would prevent them from selling at the official price.
Publishers also try to justify their high prices by citing the high cost of doing business in the country as a result of the government’s inability to provide the necessary infrastructure as well as a favorable investment environment and policy. Students at tertiary institutions who make up
The general public tries to play it smart by massively and unrestrainedly photocopying any published material they borrow from the library, while librarians attempt to maintain a seemingly dignified neutrality.
So, what are the country’s restrictions on book publishing? Is publishing a profitable business in the face of numerous obstacles? This study was inspired by the need to find answers to these and other questions.
The following are the study’s objectives:
1. Determine indigenous publishers’ contributions to the development of the Nigerian economy.
2. To learn about the challenges that the Nigerian publishing industry is facing.
3. To learn about the opportunities available in Nigeria’s publishing industry.
The following research questions were posed in order to investigate the research problem:
1. What are indigenous publishers’ contributions to the development of the Nigerian economy?
2. What are the publishing industry’s challenges in?
Nigeria?
3. What are the prospects for the Nigerian publishing industry?
The research is limited to book publishing in Nigeria. It investigates the industry’s challenges and reveals the opportunities available to it. Literamed publications Nigeria limited, an indigenous publishing firm, was investigated. However, the study did not include digital or electronic book publishing in Nigeria.
1.7 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
INDIGENOUS: originating or occurring naturally in a specific location rather than elsewhere.
BOOK PUBLISHING: the act or process of making available to the public printed, reproduced, textual, or graphical material. When these materials are turned into books, this is referred to as book publishing.
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1.8 THE STUDY’S ORGANIZATION
This research paper is divided into five chapters for easy comprehension
as shown below;
The first chapter is concerned with the introduction, which includes the (overview of the study), historical background, problem statement, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms, and historical background of the study.
The second chapter emphasizes the theoretical framework on which the study is based, as well as a review of related literature. The third chapter discusses the study’s research design and methodology. The fourth chapter focuses on data collection, analysis, and presentation of findings. The study’s summary, conclusion, and recommendations are presented in Chapter 5.
THE PROBLEMS OF INDIGENOUS BOOK PUBLISHING IN NIGERIA
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