The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, has said the commission has long recognised the transformative potentials of open access in expanding knowledge and widening participation in higher education.
He made this known at a 2-day Open Access Stakeholders conference held at the National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, from Monday, October 6 to Tuesday, October 7, at the Conference Centre of the university in Abuja.
He said the commission believes that all institutions and students should enjoy the benefits of open and equal access to educational materials because it enhances the quality of research and knowledge production.
Ribadu stated that NUC's Open Educational Resource policy remains a cornerstone of this effort.
''We will continue to build the capacity of institutions and professionals to adopt OER and to optimise Open Distance and e-Learning as pathways to a more sustainable and accessible education system in Nigeria," he said.
The Executive Secrertary said the conference wa an important step in consolidating Nigeria's progress in Diamond Open Access publishing and in charting a clear roadmap for a national policy that reflects collective aspiration for community-driven academic publishing.
In his address, the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc Sonny Echono, represented by Prof. Usman Adamu, the NOUN Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), said for many years, “our higher education institutions have produced abundant research, yet too often these outputs remain hidden and locked on dusty shelves,or published abroad at great cost, with limited access at home.”
Echono said as the agency entrusted with the mandate to intervene in providing funds to positively shape the future of tertiary educational institutions, TETFund is duty bound by its mandate to change this story.
“In recognition of the above challenge amongst others, TETFund established the Academic Publishing Centers ( APCs) across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones.
“These centres provide editorial support, professional peer review, and modern publishing facilities to ensure that our scholars can produce high-quality works that meet global standards,” he said.
In his welcome address, NOUN Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Peters, said as Nigeria's foremost open and distance learning institution, the university has continually championed the foundational belief that knowledge fulfills its purpose only when it is shared widely and equitably across every community.
“Our main delivery strategy focuses on the creation and development of content by teams comprising varied expertise and subsequent publishing of the content in varied media formats and across multiple platforms.
“Thi ensures that our students, wherever they reside, can access learning resources without barriers. Through this operational mode, we advance both equity and equality in the acquisition of knowledge .
"I wish to commend the visionary leadership of TETFund , whose forward-looking programmes consistently advance transformative initiatives within our occupational sector,” Peters said.
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