Nigeria’s tertiary education received a major boost recently as the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa unveiled 82 academic textbooks fully sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) at a landmark event held in Abuja. The highly elated minister expressed confidence that the 82 publications would enhance learning, promote indigenous authorship, provide relevant academic materials in tertiary institutions, and reduce continuous reliance on foreign academic resources. The books were published under the TETFund Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project initiated to support academic textbook publication, professional association journals, establishment and sustainability of TETFund Academic Publishing Centres. While unveiling the books, Dr. Alausa stated that “the milestone is a testament of the Federal Government’s commitment to quality education and the pursuit of academic excellence”. He lamented the paucity of indigenous authored tertiary-level textbooks and over reliance of Nigerian Tertiary institutions on foreign academic materials, resulting in significant pressure on foreign exchange and absence of encouragement on local authors over the years. He said the nation’s higher education institutions reached a critical stage, which resulted in the establishment of TETFund’s higher Education Book Development Project. “Nurturing a culture of excellence in authorship and promoting the production of high-quality indigenous textbooks will not only ensure the availability of relevant academic textbooks across diverse disciplines particularly in science, technology and innovations to reflect our local environment and sensitivities,” he said. He affirmed that supporting indigenous authors will safeguard national pride, encourage local scholars to showcase their intellects and authorship in various academic disciplines. The Minister assured that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration remained committed to educational development as the national driver for sustainable development, adding that that TETFund would continue to intensify efforts to enhance content development and capacity building in public tertiary institutions. Dr Alausa commended the authors for their tireless contribution to enriching our tertiary Institutions and strengthening Nigeria’s global academic reputation. He also applauded TETFund for increasing the number of books and maintaining high standards in the quality of the scholarly publications and continuous restocking of the libraries of beneficiary institutions, even as he requested that the Fund expands access to the books beyond its Tertiary Education Research, Application and Services (TERAS) platform to promote wider reach globally. The Minister expressed profound gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his commitment to the growth of education through sustained funding and strategic policy reprioritization toward content and tangible development. He expressed optimism that the textbook development intervention by TETFund will achieve the desired objective of bridging the gap of indigenous academic publishing and improve access to relevant learning materials in tertiary institutions. In his address, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny S.T. Echono revealed that the persistent shortage of high-quality tertiary level textbook in Nigeria has long posed a major challenge on teaching, learning and research, hence the establishment TETFund Book Development Intervention line to bridge the gap and promote the development of credible, locally authored academic resources to enhance teaching, learning and research in tertiary institutions He disclosed that 72 titled books were authored by Nigeria scholars and published under the TETFund Book development project while 10 other titled academic books by reputable Nigerian authors were secured by the Fund for tertiary institutions, bringing the total number to 82. He confirmed that the Fund would commence the distribution of over 400,000 copies of the books to beneficiary institutions across the country with digital versions on TERAS platform, in various disciplines including Medicine, law, Engineering, and Education. The Executive Secretary revealed that moving forward, the authors will receive monetary honoraria based on the number of pages of their books, along with twenty complimentary copies as against the one thousand copies of their publication, as part of the Fund’s commitment to ensuring prudent management of resources and value for money. He appreciated the Minister for his exemplary leadership and continuous support for policies and programmes that promote academic excellence, knowledge, and institutional advancement. The TETFund Boss also expressed his gratitude to the TETFund Board of Trustees for their commitment to strengthening the intellectual and academic foundation of Nigeria’s tertiary education system. Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of TETFund’s Technical Advisory Group on Book Development (TAG), Prof. Albert Abegunde in his speech revealed that the books presented were written by individual scholars and cover various disciplines ranging from Medicine and Pharmacy; Arts and Literature; Law; Engineering and Agriculture and many others designed to enrich teaching, deepen research, strengthen policy engagement, and enhance learning in tertiary institutions. Prof Abegunde noted that another batch of over 40 manuscripts have been cleared by TAG for publication, and over 61 are undergoing peer review, while about 65 new submissions would be considered by TAG in its next meeting. The Chairman of TETFund’s Board of Trustees, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, in his remarks, reiterated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to prioritizing education. He commended TETFund’s dedication to transparency and devotion to government regulations in fulfilling its mandate. He also applauded the authors for their contribution to the development of tertiary education in Nigeria.