Leading book publishers in Africa and writers rose from a seminar to declare that the publishing industry on the continent is endangered by the activities of pirates and unfavourable government policies.
Other major challenges discussed at the seminar included shortage of books, illiteracy and poor infrastructure.
The event was organised by the Nigerian Publishers Association in Lagos to address the challenges faced by the entrepreneurs in a society experiencing a downturn in its publishing sector.
Themed, ‘Publishing for Sustainable Development: The Role of Publishers in Africa’, the seminar also explored the evolving socio-economic contribution of the publishing industry in Africa.
The President of the Nigerian Publishers Association, Gbadega Adedapo, caused a stir during the event when he disclosed that book publishing in Africa generated an annual revenue of about N1bn. He also said the industry was growing at a pace of six per cent every year.
However, not everyone welcomed this view, as the President of the Ghana Publishers Association, Mr. Elliot Agyare disputed during the discussions that the contribution of publishers in Africa had been marginal so far.
Agyare said, “Our contribution has been marginal in Africa, we import more books and only contribute 10 to 15 per cent of books to the educational sector. We have not developed to where we are meant to be.
“We need to build our editorial and production capacity, we need to also develop our eco-system to enhance distribution of books.”
Also, the Bookshop Manager of Moi University, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Mrs. Lily Nyariki, lamented that shortage of books in the education sector across Africa would only impede the sustainable development goals publishing aimed to achieve in Africa.
She said, “Across Africa, it is common to find places that attribute one book to 15 children, which affects learning outcomes and compromises education. Lack of national book policies and too many people doing the same thing and not doing it well is a big issue.”
On the issue of piracy, Nyariki added that booksellers were not pirates and should therefore, not be considered as such because without booksellers, the publishing chain cannot be effective.
“It is disheartening that people associate booksellers to privacy or corruption and this should not be, because without booksellers we cannot have an effective publishing chain,” She added.
It was also revealed during the discussions that the Nigerian Government had seized 9 million pirated goods worth N10m in seven years.
The Chairman, Literamed Publications, Otunba Yinka Lawal-Solarin, said that with government’s insistence on being the sole suppliers of books to the public schools in the country, the impact of publishers was being limited.
“The government have a policy stating that they are to be the sole suppliers of books to the public schools, which are in the majority in the country.
This same government struggle to provide books for the schools, we as publishers need the textbook market to make serious impact as there is no school without books,” he said.
Speaking on the best way to strengthen publishing in Africa, President of the International Publishers Association, Dr. Michael Kolman, urged publishers to emulate their foreign counterparts.
He said, “Publishers need to adopt the best practices, we are an international organisation. So if other publishers and orgainisations have good solutions, which could be in Germany, Thailand, then why can’t it be applied here in Nigeria and also the other way around. What can we learn from the Nigerian publishers?”
Panelists at the event included, Dr. Wale Okediran, a former President of The Association of Nigerian Authors, Mrs. Adele Nibona, Culture Programme Specialist, UNESCO, Mr. Afam Ezekude, Director-General Nigeria Copyright Commission, Mohammed Radi, Vice chair, African Publishers Network among others.
