Research Journal of Library and Information Science Volume 4, Issue 3, 2020, PP 16-23 ISSN 2637-5915

Exploratory Study of Nigeria International Book Fair

Abdullahi I Musa1, Olowu Labeshi Toby2*, Unobe Elameyi Susan3 1Department of Library and Information Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria 2Institute for Agricultural Research Library, Samaru, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria 3National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria *Corresponding Author: Olowu Labeshi Toby, Institute for Agricultural Research Library, Samaru, Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria

ABSTRACT The study “Exploratory study of Nigeria International Book Fair” the analysis here is based on the response from the structured intervened from the attendees based on the set objectives. This analysis here is therefore based on the expressed opinions of the attendees and is examined under the following set of objectives: identification of objectives for attending the international book fair, Identify the expected benefits for attending the international book fair, Find out the market strategies employed to create awareness of the published titles, Identify challenges experienced in the International book fair, Identify recommendations suggested for overcoming the challenges. The study adopted a qualitative approach and was based strictly on the information obtained from the attendees from the structured questionnaire issued to them after the fair. A total of twenty four respondents were involved in the study. The information collected were analyzed in frequencies and percentages and partly in qualitative formats.

INTRODUCTION deals are initiated that are followed up after the event. The book fair is essentially a catalyst which Professional book fairs play a vital role in accelerates rights deals towards completion. publishing. According to Abdullahi, I.M. and Olowu, L.T. (2015), they allow publishers, agents, A book fair is also an exhibition Publishing distributors and retailers to meet and do business. companies as well as firms from the wider They draw media and public attention to the book publishing industry (E.g. distributors, technology industry. They provide platforms for authors to companies) use fairs as showcases for their brands meet their public. They are publishing’s key and as shop windows for their products and stimulant. Book fairs come in all shapes and sizes, services. Book fairs serve an important educational attracting a variety of publics and serving different purpose for book trade professionals, making them purposes. Most book fairs in developing countries aware of key trends through seminars, panel and many major fairs in developed countries are discussions and presentations. Book fairs also mainly consumer events. offer a range of events designed to facilitate They further stated that the major function of networking. International books fairs is to be a market place for trade professionals. Book rights are bought Many book fairs are geared towards attracting and sold, and agents introduce new titles to large numbers of the general public. These fairs publishers. Generally, the people selling book rights represent an important sales and or marketing at book fairs are located either on publishers’ and communications platform for publishers. stands or in a special rights Centre, while the Authors participate in public events and visitors buyers move around the fair from meeting to are often able to buy books at special discounts. meeting. Book rights are offered via different Some fairs exclusively allow trade attendees, models, either on an exclusive basis to the some are designed for the general public, and potential buyer, or simultaneously to multiple buyers, or via auctions. A few deals may be others are hybrids, often separating their fair hatched and signed at book fairs. But more into professional and public days. In Frankfurt, frequently, deals are concluded which were for instance, the first three days are trade days already being discussed prior to a fair, or new while the public attends on the final two days.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NIGERIA onal arm of the Foundation, identifies and INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR prioritizes projects and activities in which intervention by the Foundation would be desirable The Nigerian International Book Fair (NIBF) and in the interest of indigenous book development. came into existence in 1991, propelled by the The Council is also required to offer professional urge to save the Book from going into extinction advice to the Foundation on the Foundation's annual in Nigeria. The founding fathers had observed progrpmamme and activities, as well as on other the crisis facing the book industry in Nigeria and matters referred to it, in order to ensure the often counter-productive fire-brigade methods relevance, timeliness, and effectiveness. adopted as remedial measures. They had come to the conclusion that the crisis stood little chance of The membership of the Council earns the resolution without the emergence of a nongovern- Foundation the appellation of apex- or umbrella mental, non-profit organization committed to organization for book development in Nigeria. indigenous book development that would bring The Presidents of the five major professional together key practitioners of the industry and adopt associations in the book industry--Authors, a holistic approach to indigenous book Publishers, Printers, Booksellers, and Librarians-- development. Imbued with abundant zeal, the are members of the Council ex officio. So are NIBF achieved paper existence in 1991. The year the National Librarian and the President of the 1992 saw the unqualified failure of the Foundation. The two Honorable Ministers Foundation's attempt to launch a =N=100 million whose ministries relate closely with book endowment fund. The Board of Directors of the development--Culture and Education--nominate Foundation ceased to exist after four futile a representative each to the Council. Four attempts to form a quorum of three members! The organizations relevant to book development, as tide turned in 1993 when the President of the may be determined by the Board of Trustees, also Foundation received a grant as seed money. nominate a representative each to the Council, for Immediate and judicious investment of the entire a two-year term. The organizations are subject to amount enabled the Foundation to commence review. The current members are the Raw skeletal activities in 1993 and full operation in Materials Research & Development Council, 1994. A resurgence of interest in the Foundation (RMRDC) the Nigerian Educational Research followed when it seemed set to succeed. &Development Council, (NERDC) the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) and the THE ORGANIZER AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE Nigeria Union of Teachers. (NUT) Three persons STRUCTURE are appointed to the Council on merit for a two With no local or foreign models to copy, the year term. As soon as they resolved the problem of NIBF had no option other than to fashion its funding, the National Advisory Council was own administrative structure in order to enable it meeting frequently, to enable it to respond to function with optimum results. promptly to major developments affecting national book development, and to propose lines of action A Board of Trustees was constituted in place of for the Foundation and the entire book community. the defunct Board of Directors, to exercise general superintendence over the policies, finances, and MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF THE BOOK FAIR physical assets of the Foundation, to raise Nigeria International Book Fair additional funds, to ensure proper keeping of books of accounts, to fill any vacancy in the The Annual National Book Week, inaugurated Office of the President, and to authorize the use by the NBF in April 1994 and usually held in of the Common Seal of the Foundation. The the second half of April, metamorphosed into the Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF) in May initial eleven-member Board, appointed as 2002. The NBF is a founding Trustee of the individuals rather than as representatives of Nigerian Book Fair Trust (NBFT), which associations, reflected Nigerian federal character organizes the fair, and participates in its activities. and ethnic and religious plurality. It made available to the NBF men and women who distinguished Book Data Centre themselves in authorship, bookselling, publishing, The NBF Book Data Centre was established in printing, law, public service or in business/banking 1995 to serve as a data bank on book related /industrial management. matters. The maiden edition of the Directory of The second key organ of the Foundation is the Nigerian Book Development, edited by National Advisory Council which, as the professi- Chukwuemeka Ike and published in 1998, was

17 Research Journal of Library and Information Science V4 ● I3 ● 2020 Exploratory Study of Nigeria International Book Fair the first publication of directories of Nigerian into reading materials for the reading public. published Authors, Publishing Houses, Book Seven Igbo language booklets have been Printers, Book Selling and Distribution Organiza- produced. Inadequate funds have held back tions, and Libraries. Inadequate funding has quality publication of the booklets as well as hampered the work of the Centre. expansion of the scope of the Project to other Nigerian language groups. Promotion of Reading National Book Distribution Organization Funded by Heinrich Boll Foundation of Germany, the NBF operated pilot reading promotion projects The NBF is playing a catalytic role in attempting to (1996 and 1997) and a three-year (1998-2000) establish a National Book Distribution Organization programme to promote the reading habit among to meet the recognized, top-priority need of the Nigerians. Operating through three Reading Nigerian book sector. Promotion Units in Ibadan (West), Jos (North), and Publications Ndikelionwu (East), the NBF organized three-day holistic reading promotion events in urban and With funds from Heinrich Boll Foundation of rural centers in eighteen States of the Federation Germany, the NBF published the following between 1998 and 2000. The NBF handed over books in its first decade of existence: Making the mobile library set up at Ibadan as part of the Books Readily Available and Affordable (edited programme to the Oyo State Library Board in by Ezenwa-Ohaeto), 1995; Creating a Conducive 2002 at the request of the Board, which Environment for Book Publishing (edited by transformed it into Bodija Community Library, Chukwuemeka Ike),1996; Meeting the Needs of the Bodija-Ibadan. The NBF has the capacity to Rural Family (edited by Chukwuemeka Ike),1997; mount new reading promotion programmes as Directory of Nigerian Book Development (edited funds become available. by Chukwuemeka Ike),1998;The Book in 21st- Century Nigeria (edited by Chukwuemeka Ike), Book Aid Nigeria (BAN) Project 2000; Creating and Sustaining a Reading As a follow-up to the NBF/Heinrich Boll Culture (edited by Chukwuemeka Ike), 2000. Foundation Reading Promotion Programme, which Academy Press Plc., Lagos, subsidized the cost expired in December 2000, the NBF launched a of printing the Directory. Funding is required to Book Aid Nigeria (BAN) Project aimed at update the Directory and publish new books. receiving free donations of a wide range of new Resource Centre books for distribution to public, institutional, community, and other libraries, organizations, and With books kindly donated by Book Aid (in approved cases) individuals, to facilitate International and furniture provided by the access to books. The first container of imported Heinrich Boll Foundation, the Foundation has books for the project came from International Book equipped a modest Resource Centre for the staff Bank, Inc., Baltimore, U.S.A. Three Nigerian of the Foundation and for outsiders. It is publishers--Macmillan, Longman Nigeria, and envisaged that, subject to the availability of University Press Plc.--also donated books. funds, the Centre will be upgraded to a Research A three-year project with the Sabre Foundation, and Training Centre. Massachusetts, USA, has enabled the NBF to MAIN BOOK FAIRS IN THE WORLD receive and distribute two consignments of books from the USA annually. A grant from the Frankfurt Book Fair has established itself as the Education Tax Fund (ETF) has facilitated the biggest international trade book fair. It is a key acquisition of an NBF warehouse for the project. market place for the rights business and thanks The NBF welcomes more book donations and to its wide media coverage, a platform for funds for the purchase of books to meet the ever publishers to announce deals. Other important growing demand for books for formal education fairs for rights sales include London (the largest and informal lifelong education. spring fair), Bologna (specialized in children’s literature) and Book- Expo America (the main Sourcing and Dissemination of Indigenous market place for US publishers).Liber (in Spain) Knowledge and Guadalajara (in Mexico) are the main rights Through organized interviews with identified fairs for Spanish-language publishers, while experts (literate and illiterate) in indigenous Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei are important knowledge, the NBF has sourced hitherto rights fairs for the Chinese market, as is unpublished information, which it transformed Moscow for Russian publishing.

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In the Middle East, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and were of the view that they attended the fair Dubai are growing hubs for rights sales. The towards the promotion of reading culture in the Salon du livre de Paris, Sweden’s Goteborg society. Book Fair, Bogota and the Buenos Aires fair are Identification of Attendees’ Expected Benefits high profile cultural events and major drivers of for Attending the International Book Fair their national book industries. Cairo and Tehran are the Middle East’s largest public fairs while Most of the respondents were of the view that Bangkok, Calcutta and Delhi attract millions of their attendance of the book fair enables them to visitors. The South African Book Fair are well make sales and establish personal contact with attended by both trade and public. prospective buyers of their published titles. But some of the respondents were of the view that it THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY was an avenue for them to attend seminars and The objective of this study was: workshop on book culture. For those who have the mission of recruiting student for admission  Identification of objectives for attending the into foreign schools, the fair was said to have Nigeria International book fair afforded them the opportunity to liaise with  Identify the expected benefits for attending some prospective student and create awareness the Nigeria International book fair of their organization. Generally, attendees were  Find out the marketing strategies employed of the view that the book fair offered them the to create awareness of the published titles opportunity to reach their target audience and  Identify challenges experienced in the Nigeria build contact and showcase their products. Apart International book fair from making sales, the attendees were of the view that fair gave the opportunity to interact  Identify recommendations suggested for and change ideas with other publishers. Some of overcoming the challenges the attendees were of the view that, they were RESEARCH METHODS able to open new channels of distribution and gain new customers. The study adopted the qualitative approach and was based strictly on the information obtained Market Strategies Employed to Create from the attendees from the structured questionnaire Awareness on Published Titles issued to them during the fair in 2016. A total of Among the market strategies adopted for the twenty four respondents were involved in the study. creation of awareness of the products by the The information collected was analyzed partly in publisher and attendees of the book fair were frequencies and percentages and partly in banners, flyers, bill boards, posters, exchange of qualitative formats. catalogues, gift items and discounted price of FINDINGS published titles and products. There were strategies of open display and exhibition of Identification of Attendee’s Objectives for materials. But some of the respondents were of Attending the Nigeria International Book Fair the view that they employed adverts through All the respondents were of the view that they news media like radio and newspapers while attended for multidimensional purposes among some used social media like Face book in the which was to meet and interact with others of promotion of the products. Some of the their orientation and show case their published respondents were of the view that they visit titles toward creation of awareness of their schools to exhibit their title and go along with publishing companies along with sales promotion gifts and flyers they provide for prospective of their products. The groups of attendees buyers of their products. Some relatively few constituted the bulk of the respondents and respondents were of the view that they collected accounted for 92.6% of the respondents. But personal contact address from the prospective relatively few numbers of the attendees were of the customers. view that they came for exploiting the prospect Challenges Experienced in the Nigeria of establishing contact and establishing consultancy International Book Fair among publishers and librarians. Along this line were others who said their purpose of attending the Challenges experienced by the attendants could fair was to facilitate admission of prospective be classified into two dimensions. The first is those students to foreign countries’ tertiary institutions. associated with organization of the fair and its Some relatively few numbers of the attendants inherent challenges. The second is external and

19 Research Journal of Library and Information Science V4 ● I3 ● 2020 Exploratory Study of Nigeria International Book Fair related to personal challenges encountered in the Inadequate funding has been the Foundation's process and passage conveyors of the published most serious handicap since its inception. The titles and products to the venue of the fair. annual income that the Foundation derives from its investment of the entire initial seed money In the first instance, there was the problem of received from the Federal Government is barely turnout of the attendants at the fair which all the adequate to keep the Foundation alive with respondents were of the view was inadequate. minimal staff, making it impossible to engage in The low turnout was associated with the poor meaningful activities projects without external reading culture of the Nigerian society. Some of funding. All the activities listed above, were respondents were of the view that the venue was funded by external donor agencies. Other too small for book fair. Apart from the side of worthy activities projects conceptualized by the the venue, some complaint of the security and Foundation could not take off because of lack of absence of close circuit television (CCTV) for funds and donor support. effective security monitor of the venue. Then there was the advertisement of the book fair The greatest problem facing the book industry in which some of the respondents were of the view Nigeria is that while some other industries do was very poor and resulted to low sales of manage to source their raw materials locally and products and published titles. thus do not have to pay exorbitantly to purchase foreign exchange for imports, the book industry Most attendees were of the view that there is depends almost entirely on imported raw generally poor reading culture and that its affect materials. Printing materials such as ink, film, patronage of their product resulting in poor sales. plates and paper to mention just the obvious Coupled with this is the general complain of the ones are all imported at highly prohibitive poor nature of the economy and cost of fueling foreign exchange (dollar) rates. which was said to be too high. There was the problem of importation of materials which some of It is probably with a view to alleviating the the respondents complained hampered the problem of printing paper for the book industry effectiveness of the book fair. Some of the attendees that three paper mills were established in the were of the view that the standard of book fair was country. The Nigerian Paper Mills Ltd. Jebba is very poor and furniture used were not up to designed to manufacture paper for printing books; standard. Another challenge is that of high price the Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company products due to the poor nature of economy. Some Ltd. Iko-Iboku is meant to produce newsprint for of the respondents were of the view that the cost of publishing newspapers and magazines while the renting a stand was too high and hardly affordable Nigerian National Paper Manufacturing Company the face of low patronage experienced in the fair. Ltd. Iwopin is designed to produce pulp paper. Closely related is the issue of importation: the Unfortunately, none of these paper mills is challenges suffered by prospective attendees of producing at even half of the installed capacity, the book fair who complained that they could and this has thus aggravated rather than ameliorated hardly convey their ware through the borders the problems of the Nigerian book industry. because of customs restrictions. Along with There is lopsided development of the book problem in the foreign exchange rate which industry in Nigeria in the sense that publishers make the price of such foreign book to be very pay more attention to primary and secondary high. school textbooks (especially in the sciences) and Other Challenges confronting the Nigerian books of general interest including fiction have Book Industry in General consequently suffered great neglect. While it is The problems of the book industry in Nigeria are important for publishers to think of making quite numerous. These range from inadequate raw profits, "the role of the book industry in national materials, low capacity utilization of the established development goes beyond enriching the paper mills, shortage of locally authored books proprietors of the industry and meeting the (especially for the tertiary levels of our education obvious need for suitable textbooks for the system) to piracy and distribution network. While it formal school system" (Ike 1995). This lopsided is not possible to exhaustively discuss every nature of development in the book industry can problem of the book industry within the be checked if a body to co-ordinate book confines of a single paper, suffice it to say that development in Nigeria is established and given attempts are made below to highlight the most the necessary tools and powers to effectively obvious of these problems. carryout its assignment.

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There is also the problem of publishers' attitude  National seminar on reducing the cost of to manuscripts submitted. The attitude can best Textbooks in Nigeria; be described as lackadaisical and nonchalant.  World Bank/Overseas Development Agency Publishers are not even honest enough in the Book Sector Study; payment of royalties to authors. It also takes a very long time to get a manuscript published but  Committee on the Rationalization of Textbooks even the published books are not readily in Primary and Secondary Schools; available to the consumer. In the words of  Federal Ministry of Education/British Council Emenyonu (1995), "publishing companies in Sponsored Conference to criticize the World Nigeria seem to find it prestigious and a sign of Bank/ ODA Book Sector Study; distinction to assert that they can only meet "one  Seminar on Book Development and Reading third or less of your order". It is not enough to in the ECOWAS sub-region; NERDC Draft publish books; such books should reach the National Book Policy Committee; consumers. One however agrees that due to  Ministerial Committee on the provision of dwindling finance, which has affected all sectors Book to Colleges and schools; of the Nigerian economy, sales representatives of publishing companies are hardly in existence  Task Force on Books. unlike what used to obtain before. There is thus To (his long list, Adesanoye (1995:156) adds the problem of effective book distribution “the 1973 Ife Conference on publishing and mechanism in Nigeria. Book Development, and the 1983 First Nigerian Due to the high cost of publishing books, prices National Congress on Books”, held in Lagos. have astronomically risen beyond the reach of Similarly, the introduction to the final draft of many parents/guardians. It is therefore common the National Book policy (which was submitted to see some pupils/students going through the to government since 1992) clearly states that: educational system without having the prescribed The Nigerian Government recognizes the place minimum textbooks. The school libraries that are to of book as: come to the aid of the students are themselves  The hub of the educational wheel and potent poorly equipped with outdated books and few or no agent in the overall development of its citizenry; journals at all. What is now the fashion in many  A basic instrument for the preservation and educational institutions (especially in tertiary ones) transmission of cultural heritage and for the is the preponderance of handouts prepared by development of scientific and technological teachers who themselves depend on outdated knowledge or skills, socio political and textbooks or lecture notes they used during their economic awareness; student days. What all these mean is low quality of education passed on to students.  An instrument for enhancing national interaction, co-operation and understanding and It is obvious that the Nigerian government has  An agent for promoting the growth of well invested greatly in the educational sector. This is informed and well-adjusted individuals. especially so when one takes into account billions of naira that are used annually in payment of If government recognized the importance of salaries to all those in the educational sector, but book in national development, one however hardly is any amount allocated to the book industry wonders the sincerity of government in really per se. The seeming interest of government in tackling the problems of the book industry. tackling the problems of the book industry is Moreover, as of yet, there is no official government however reflected in the numerous conferences, policy that addresses the book sector. It is even seminars, workshops, task forces and commissi- disheartening that a Draft National Book Policy oned studies, among other fora, the government has submitted to government over six years ago is yet either organized or assisted to organize to discuss to be enacted into law. and proffer solutions to the perennial problems of Recommendation for Overcoming Challenges the book industry. Asein (1993:76-7) lists some of in the Nigeria Book Fair these fora as: Foremost in the recommendation for overcoming  Commonwealth Regional Seminar on Book the challenges is the issue of promotion and Development; effective advertisement of book fair. Toward this  Ministerial Task Force on Scarcity of Books end, all the respondents were of the view that and stationery; successive fairs require adequate advertisement

21 Research Journal of Library and Information Science V4 ● I3 ● 2020 Exploratory Study of Nigeria International Book Fair and government intervention to help source the  Nigeria has quite a good number of educated funding for such venue and activities of the fair. people who can write books to meet the Thus, they suggested that subsequently, there educational book needs of all the levels of our should be more intensive publicity of book fair educational system. In order to further such that such information will reach target encourage the authorship of educational books, audience in the Nigerian society and the cost of awards should be instituted for academic renting a stand should be reduced. Most publishing. Professional bodies such as respondents were of view that information on Association of National Accountants of Nigeria book fair should be published in advanced for (ANAN); Nigerian Institute of Bankers; Science participants to be ready and prepare for it rather Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) and than sudden approach use for the current one. Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE), to Issue of security is another challenge that some mention just a few, should endeavor to author textbooks, particularly for the tertiary level. of the attendees raised and suggested it could be addressed with the provision of CCTV and  Creative writing courses should also be government security agents for subsequent venues introduced and taught in the universities, of book fair in the country. The respondents mainly by practicing writers, Projects such as suggested that standard furniture should be Accelerated Tertiary Book Publishing in provided in line with international standard. Science and Technology; Local Authorship Promotion (Budding Authors) Project and Some respondents were of the view that there children Story Picture Books Project being should be a periodical local book fair towards undertaken by Nigerian Educational Research promotion of the reading culture in the country. and Development Council (NERDC) should be Some of the respondents suggested that government well funded so that more quality books could could aid in this direction by promoting reading be produced for the Nigerian educational culture among children through encouraging such system. ventures in terms of funding and public  In relation to the above, the need for the enlightenment. establishment of a National Book Commission once more becomes most relevant. This need Some of the respondents were of the view that has been expressed several times in the past but the federal government needs to be involved in the government has not acted on the book fair preparation such that the issue of recommendation. It is therefore necessary to use custom and other such formalities could be this medium to once more highlight some of the solved for prospective participants and easy functions of a National Book Commission. The passage of published titles into such book fairs. proposed Commission shall be supervised,  More attention should be paid to the book either by the Presidency or the Federal industry rather than merely regarding it as Ministry of Education and it will monitor and part and parcel of the entire educational sector. co-ordinate all activities of the book industry. The three established paper mills should be The Commission shall be responsible for the reactivated, if necessary, privatized so that they development of the book industry and ensure can have the required financial capital to operate a stable supply of books, at affordable prices, optimally. Now that government is thinking of to the entire educational system and beyond. privatizing some of its key companies/  The problem of book piracy should also be parastatals to make them efficient and self- seriously checked. This should be done by sustaining, this recommendation is therefore applying the stringent provisions of the in order. Copyright Law so that the Copyright  Government should also commission research Commission can effectively combat book projects by appropriate research institutes and piracy. Book pirates are like armed robbers universities whose research outcomes can lead because they defraud the author, publishers, to the local production of some of the government and the society. This is because requirements of the printing and publishing pirates do not pay profit tax on the huge industry in Nigeria. This will reduce the cost of easy/illegal money they make neither do they book production and thus eventually reduce the help the country in tackling the problem of unit price of textbooks thereby making it unemployment. possible for more pupils/students to purchase  The most important of all the lessons we the recommended textbooks for students. have to learn from the lack of commitment in

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solving the problems of the book industry is [2] Adesanoye, F.A. (1995) the Book in Nigeria: Some that government lacks a strong political will Current Issues Ibadan: Sam Bookman. to implement the recommendations of the [3] Adeyomoye, J. I. (2011) an Assessment of the commitment / seminars or conferences it set Impact of Nigerian Book Foundation (NBF) on the up. This has made the book industry to be in Development of Library Collections in Private the mess it is up till date. University Libraries in South-West Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria: Lagos, Library Philosophy and Government should therefore muster the required Practice. political will to revisit and implement the past [4] Asein, S.O. (1993). “Nigerian Book Crisis and recommendations already submitted to it because Foreign Donor Agencies” in BDC-NERDC Report the recommendations are still as relevant today to on the Review Workshop on Proffered Reco- the Nigerian book industrial sector as they were by mmendations for Solving Problems of the Nigerian the time they were made. Books should be treated Book Industry and Formulation of Implementation as essential commodities in crisis requiring prompt Strategies Held at the NERDC Conference Centre and drastic solution. The enactment into law and Agidingbi, Ikeja - Lagos. August, 9-11 1993 faithful implementation of the provisions of the [5] The FUTURE of Book Fairs (2015) an final draft of the National Book Policy (1992) International Publishers Association Special Report will be the beginning of the eradication of the Lagos. International Publishers Association problems of the Nigerian book industry. [6] Hmenyonu. E.N. (1993): “Problems of the Book Industry”. In B. Sule, & A. Abdullahi (Ed.), SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Culture and the Book Industry (National Book The mission, vision, objectives, the historical Policy (Final Draft) Abuja, Sheda: NERDC background, the benefit and the problems of the [7] Ker, Apegba (2012) Problem of the Book Industry book industry have been highlighted and briefly and Educational Development in Nigeria: Lessons analyzed. The paper decried government's for the 21st Century. Sheda, Abuja, Book lukewarm attitude towards implementing the Development Centre. provisions/recommendations of committees it [8] Ike, Chukwuemeka (2004) Book Publishing in willingly set up. It was therefore the submission of Nigeria. Lagos: Academic Press Plc. the paper that government should muster enough [9] Jacob, Scott Van and Miguel, Teresa m. (2007) political will and enact a law establishing the Librarian Activities at the Spanish Book Fair: Yale. National Book Commission as well as the Yale University National Book Policy as practical moves of [10] Kolawole, Samuel (2011):“Profitable Textbook government sincerity in tackling the perennial Publishing and What Need to be Understood” problems of the book industry. All efforts must Nairobi-Kenya. Book Development in Africa be made to halt the ugly threat of Nigeria [11] Malumfashi, Mansur Usman (2007) the Book degenerating further in to a bookless society. Industry and Education for All Initiatives in REFERENCES Nigeria: a Key Note Address. Abuja: National Centre for Women Development. [1] Abdullahi,I. M. and Olowu, L. T. (2015) Nigeria [12] Zakari, Muhammed (2001): “The Book Industry in International Book Fair: An Overview. Journal of National Development: Nigerian Perspectives” Ahmadu Bello University Library Complex. Vol Samaru Journal of Information Studies, 1(1) 2001 17, No.1&2.

Citation: Abdullahi I Musa, Olowu Labeshi Toby, Unobe Elameyi Susan, “Exploratory Study of Nigeria International Book Fair”, Research Journal of Library and Information Science, 4(3), 2020, pp. 16-23. Copyright: © 2020 Olowu Labeshi Toby. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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