The story begins in a familiar place: a parent standing at the counter of a school office, clutching a crumpled list of required items. On that list—again—are customized textbooks and notebooks, stamped with the school’s name, sold at double the market price. The parent knows what’s coming. Pay up, or their child risks being left out of class. For many households already stretched to the breaking point, it’s the kind of choice that feels like a trap.
But then comes Kogi State’s new policy—a sharp break in the chain. The government has banned the compulsory sale of customized books. Schools can still offer them, yes, but only at normal market rates, and parents can no longer be forced to buy them. That one decision hits like fresh air in a suffocating room.
The numbers tell the story better than sentiment. According to UNICEF, 10.2 million Nigerian children are out of school—the highest in the world. Dig deeper, and one of the silent drivers is cost. A 2023 SBM Intelligence report found that education expenses swallow as much as 30% of household income in some urban poor families. When customized books are bundled into that burden, the math gets cruel. Parents aren’t just buying paper and ink; they’re buying into a system that quietly penalizes poverty.
This is why Kogi’s move matters. It’s more than a local decree—it’s a model for nationwide reform. Imagine if every Nigerian state enforced this rule. Parents could walk into a market, compare prices, and buy books that fit their budgets. Schools could focus on teaching, not retailing. And children, freed from the invisible barrier of inflated costs, could sit in classrooms where learning—not buying—defines their worth.
Education should never be a racket. Yet for years, compulsory customized books turned it into exactly that—a subtle extortion built into the school year. Kogi has drawn a line, and it’s a line that deserves to run across Nigeria.
The truth is simple: when you strip away the excess costs, you don’t just save parents money—you give children a fighting chance.
