"More text books for our school," September 19, 1964

LAGOS, NIGERIA. MORNING POST, Saturday, September 19, 1964 — Page 9 More text books for our schools THE Nigerian Government is exploring all possible avenues which might aid in the national economy development programme. A unique phase of this programme is a plan aimed at developing an educational textbook publication project in Nigeria. A recent agreement between the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Economic Development and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) states the matter thus : "At the present time, virtually all of Nigeria's books are imported, representing a very large annual foreign exchange cost. "The great majority of these books are in categories that could, with training and initial technical assistance, be produced by Nigerians in Nigeria." The new venture — the Franklin Book Programmes — aims at this goal. The Franklin Book Programmes, which is to implement this programme, is an international non-profit organisation with the main interest of stimulating indigenous books published in developing countries. The Franklin organisation already has established an administrative structure in Nigeria with a grant from the Ford Foundation, another participant in the project. One of the latest activities in the textbook programme was the visit to Nigeria of Miss Esther Walls, supervising librarian of the Countee Cullen Regional branch of the New York Public Library system. Under the three-year project, Franklin programmes will assist in the immediate editorial development of about 25 textbooks - some from original manuscripts written by Nigerians. The ultimate goal, however, is to put textbook publishing on a sound continuing basis in Nigeria. Immediate plans also call for training of Nigerians in various aspects of the publishing and printing business and the establishment of continued liaison with responsible educational authorities and Nigerian publishers. Executive director of the project here is 'Femi Oyewole, who holds a Bachelor of continued liaison with diploma in education. The agreement between the Nigerian Government and USAID - signed in June - anticipates substantial progress in the field of book publishing. It lists the following participants and pledges: The Ford Foundation - a non-profit private American philanthropic organisation has made available approximately 130,300 pounds to establish the basic administrative structure in Nigeria and recurring costs through 1967. USAID is providing approximately 29,615 pounds to finance the contract services of the book programme. This includes the participant training for five Nigerians in the publishing business and middle management levels and training for ten Nigerians in various technical phases of the publishing and printing business. The Federal Government will provide international travel for the 15 participants and Nigerian publishers are expected to bear the actual printing costs. In any event, a foundation has been laid to support a textbook publishing programme in Nigeria and the participants are optimistic as illustrated by the statement Miss esther Walls of the New York Public Library discussing a point with 'Femi Oyewole, executive director of the Franklin Book Programme in Nigeria. University of Iowa. Libraries. Iowa Women's Archives