•John Odike Pix: Sun News Publishing

More Stories on This Section

Sir John Odike, the Managing Director of Africana First Publishers Plc, Onitsha, Anambra State, has said that for Nigeria to improve on its standard of education, government should borrow a leaf from other developing countries where education is given serious attention.

He also urged the government to provide quality books in the libraries, motivate teachers by prompt payment of their salaries and institutionalize the use of quality books.

In an interview with Daily Sun in his office in Onitsha, recently, Odike also gave a brief history of the publishing firm, which recently clocked 25. He spoke on its challenges, book piracy and other issues of national interest.

Background
I am from Egbengwu village in Nimo, Njikoka council area of Anambra State. I am one of the founding directors of the company. As a matter of fact, I started my career as a banker with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc before I joined AFP in 1980.
The history of AFP Plc
AFP has a wonderful history of publishing. As one of the indigenous publishing industries in Nigeria, the company is a foremost publishing firm and we have been in the fore-front of educational publishing in this country.

Well, it all began some 28 years ago when Sir P. C. Omabu decided to combine his small business of bookselling with the printing of local question-and-answer publications. Sir Omabu started publishing Grade 2 History Questions and Answers written by KBC Onwubiko; Principles of Education written by Uchendu and Nwegbu’s Physical Education, and a few others. It was this little attempt that gave birth to what we see today as Africana First Publishers Plc.

As time went on, Sir Omabu decided to take the business a step further by publishing Onwubiko’s popular School Certificate History of West Africa. Books 1 & 2. Then the Nigerian Civil War broke out and this led to the temporary closure of the company, owing to its operations which had been affected by the crisis.

Sir Omabu was not discouraged, so when the war was over, he went back to his business to start from where he had stopped. Many text books were published subsequently after the war and the company received a boom from the publications of these books. The late Onwubiko, the man who authored the History text book joined Sir Omabu in his book publishing business. A year later, the expansion of the company came with the appointment of two more directors in the persons of Sir Ralph O. Ekpeh, the Executive Director (Marketing) and my humble self, J. C. Odike as the Executive Director (Finance).

As a team, we worked assidously to achieve excellent performance in book publishing. This included giving real measure to publishing and nurturing it to this enviable height it has assumed today. Look at it from any angle, it has not been an easy journey so far. But here we are today as one of the leading indigenous publishing firms in the country.

Books published by AFP so far
AFP has published over 300 books, including school text books, books of fiction and general reading.
What makes our books unique in Nigeria education system is the contents which are curriculum-tailored. We provide the Nigerian school system with the appropriate range of high quality text books, from tertiary down to nursery levels. Each of them makes a wonderful reading. And the treatment of topics has always been unique in their presentation. There is also the very high and distinguishing aesthetical quality.  

Our company has contributed immensely to the Nigerian education system in various ways because we are educational publishers. We make sure that all our books are in conformity with the curriculum. We have a wide range of titles covering both core and elective subjects in the school system.

Besides, in fulfilling our corporate, social obligations, we have donated books to various libraries, schools and colleges. What is more, we also organize and sponsor reading workshops, debates and quiz competitions amongst schools in order to inculcate and promote profound reading culture in the students. We organized 2008 Science Quiz and Fair Competitions, workshops in collaboration with British Council and ELTAN on English Language, capacity-building workshops for teachers in Mathematics, Science and English, among others.

Our books have made much impact on the lives of their readers. Many people have always commended the simplicity with which we handle the topics and the arrangement of their contents. Come to think of it, our authors are professionals with expertise in handling the subjects. 
Comments from our readers about our fiction and general books have been encouraging.
How has it been managing AFP? 

As can be expected, managing AFP has been very challenging and at times, very tasking. The company now has over 400 members of staff and 10 Area offices with over 50 sales representatives across the country. We have also started operations in Ghana.

As we all know, publishing is a dynamic industry with its attendant human resources and capital challenges. And owing to the unfavourable economic environment in which we operate, cost of operation continues to spiral on a daily basis. In addition, the cost of book production has been on the increase in terms of paper cost and other printing materials. The result is that it puts additional pressure on the management to keep afloat.

What are the challenges in your industry?
We encounter the usual challenges encountered in any other growing enterprise. Think about the staff management and their welfare. The administration and operation, etc. 
 
AFP recently marked its 25th anniversary
Yes, AFP has marked its 25th anniversary. Really, it was a celebration of educational publishing excellence. It was without doubt, a worthwhile celebration of a legacy of book development programme offered to our country and its people. It was a time to tell the world that AFP has come of age as the first and foremost indigenous publishing firm and ranked among the very first five in the publishing industry in Nigeria.

So, the 25th anniversary was as well a celebration of remarkable achievements through the co-operative spirit of three serious-minded gentlemen who against all odds, blended together. Not only that, it was a celebration of our time-tested authors along with our numerous booksellers and customers.
The 25 years of AFP’s existence has been promising and fulfilling. And we hope and pray that it will continue to wax stronger and stronger as the years go by.

You are 25 years now, what level do you think you will attain at 30? 
Unarguably, at 30, we shall be the number one educational publishing company in Nigeria.
One thing that has been a thorn in the flesh of publishers is piracy. How has it affected your company and how do you think this evil can be crushed?

Book piracy is a monster that must be crushed. It is a hydra-headed evil that should be eliminated. You see, pirates produce inferior quality books, sell at cheap prices to undo us. This is the most potent threat to the publishing industries today. Which ever way you look at it, piracy threatens our existence if it is allowed to continue unchecked.
I now use this medium to call on Nigeria Copyright Commission to re-strategize so that this cankerworm does not cripple genuine publishing business.

Standard of Education in Nigeria, Ghana
From what we read in the newspapers and by observation, Ghana’s standard of education is, by far, higher than what obtains here in Nigeria.

It could be that Ghana is more organized and better managed than what we have here. Could be that Ghana’s government sees education as top priority.
Regrettably, there is this trend in recent times that Nigerian parents send their children to Ghana, an indication that it is much better there

Obviously, it is better. Examination “malpractices” is not wide spread. Teachers hardly go on strike because they are well paid and promptly. And in addition, they are given a lot of incentives, accorded with much more respect for their worth than what our own teachers can claim here. The difference is irritatingly clear, whichever way you look at it. 
As the managing director of a company that has contributed a lot to the education sector, how will you describe Nigeria’s education system?

Well, a lot of things have gone wrong in the system in recent times. It is no longer as sound as it used to be in the years gone by. So many things have contributed to this lack-lustre in our education system. So, something drastic has to be done in order to regain the fast-fading glory of yester-years. And this is foremost in our mind to bring back this glory through the quality books we offer the public. It is for this reason that AFP chose to take giant strides in educational publishing so as to offer the school system with appropriate range of high quality books.

To achieve this, we had to engage the services of the best minds in the society, who pool their intellectual properties to give taste and quality to the content of our books. We can boast of so many of our near-indispensable texts for use today by both pupils and students at all levels of education - pre-primary to tertiary.

We do this to bring the standard of education of our country to higher heights. And we know we can. Our books bear witness to this fact. And our motto: “Better books today, better world tomorrow” is very apt in this regard.

We learnt AFP will soon be listed at the Stock Exchange 
Well, AFP is ripe for that. We have come of age and we keep growing and expanding so much so that it becomes necessary to attract outside investors to come and invest in the company.
Remember, it started as a limited liability company. But today, it has grown to the status of Public Liability Company. And soon, very soon we shall have private placement as a prelude to our formal listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

What are the challenges you think your company will encounter operating as a PLC?
We stand to encounter challenges, just like every other company that is Public Liability Company. With its public liability nature, the company will no longer be a personal thing since outsiders who are stake-holders will now come and have a say in matters concerning the company.