NAN-H-75
Manuscripts
By Aminu Ahmed Garko
Minna, July 7, 2017 (NAN) Dr. Abdullahi Bichi, Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has expressed displeasure over the poor quality of manuscripts submitted by authors to the outfit for consideration and approval.
Bichi expressed the displeasure in a speech at a 2-day international workshop titled “Manuscripts Development and Handling”, organised by the Academic Publishing Unit of Federal University of Technology, Minna.
The workshop, which began on Friday in Minna, was organised in conjunction with the Fund.
“The quality and contents of manuscripts submitted to TETFund are far below the expected standards.
“The volume of manuscripts and publications by Nigerian scholars is encouraging, but the quality is no way near international standards.
“To meet expected standards, good books must go through peer review and editorial scrutiny by professionals in the field. That is necessary to increase the book’s pool of knowledge,” he said.
He expressed hope that the workshop would address inherent challenges affecting the publication of quality books and journals by Nigerian authors, and commended FUT, Minna for championing the campaign.
Bichi disclosed that TETFund had a huge allocation for manuscripts development and research grants, but lamented that the funds were not being accessed owing to poor quality of manuscripts and research proposals.
The TETFund boss said that the outfit had created five intervention lines under its research and publications mandate, and listed them to include national and institutional research, manuscripts development, academic journal and books publication.
Earlier, Prof. Musbau Akanji, the Vice-Chancellor of FUT, had thanked TETFund for its annual allocation to universities for manuscripts development and journal publications.
He, however, regretted that only few researchers had benefited from the funds because of poorly written manuscripts and proposals. (NAN)
AAG/AAB/ETS
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Edited By Adeboye Ajayi and Ephraims Sheyin