Examining The Nexus Between Book Publishing and The Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria

Abstract

Book publishing contributes to national development, Nigeria’s economy and the sustainable
development of the society through provision of decent jobs and improving the standard of
education. In finding the nexus between book publishing and the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG), this paper critically evaluates role of the Nigerian book industry
in attaining four of the goals to wit: Goal 1 (End Poverty in All its Forms Everywhere in the
World), Goal 4 (Quality Education), Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and Goal
15 (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage
forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity
loss). It also highlights the role of the book publishing industry in attaining the African
Agenda 2063 on a regional level and ECOWAS Vision 2050 on a sub-regional level. It finds
that the Nigerian book industry has not been able to live up to expectation in attaining SDGs
as a result of the legal, institutional and operation challenges confronting the publishing
industry, making it one of the least contributing sub-sectors to the Nigeria’s GDP based on
data by the National Bureau of Statistics. The study recommends inter alia that Nigeria needs
a friendly National Book Policy and development oriented legal reforms in the book
publishing industry in order to drive its contribution to the attainment of SDGs in the
country.