Top Five Publishing Firms In Nigeria

Top Five Publishing Firms In Nigeria as compiled by Folarin Olaniyi.

–          University Press Plc

    University Press Plc was founded in 1949 under the name of the Oxford University Press Nigeria, and has grown to become one of the oldest, most experienced and the Nation’s foremost Publishers of materials for educational and for general reading. At Incorporation as a public liability company in 1978, the company’s name was changed to University Press Limited with an authorized share capital of 8 million ordinary shares of 50k each. Quoted on the Nigerian stock exchange on 14^th August 1978, UP PLC has, on two occasions, won the prestigious stock exchange merit Award in the service sector of quoted companies. It has also won, for two consecutive years, 1984 and 1985, the Concord Prize for Excellence in Academic publishing.

–          Literamed Publication

               Literamed Publications Nigeria Limited was incorporated in April 1969, primarily for the publication of Medipharm, a medical index of pharmaceutical specialties in Nigeria.

Medipharm formed the name Literamed, which means literary and medical publication.

The Chairman, Otunba Yinka Lawal Solarin, embarked on building a printing press; he approached the manager of then Barclays Bank 131 Broad street, Lagos, Nigeria of his intention, he was told the bank was not in the habit of financing a whole project but that if he could build a factory, the bank would finance the machine for production.

The Executive Director, Olori Bjorg Solarin, an architect designed a plan on two acres of land bought at Alausa Oregun road Ikeja for the printing press and within six months the printing press was completed.

Mr. Wiggin of the Bank came to inspect the press and fulfilled his promises paid full amount for the machines.

On August 1972, Medipharm was successfully printed and delivered on the commissioning day of the printing press by Prof. Thomas, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. That was the beginning of Literamed Publications taking on its own life. Lantern Books started with the publication of Verbal and Quantitative reasoning. The success recorded informed the publication of educational books which stated with Comprehensive Social studies. The first edition published in 1992. Literamed had sustained itself on the publication of Medipharm, pre-primary books and Happi product before the advent of primary school titles.

In 2004, Literamed floated Comics Hut, a subsidiary for the publication of Comic books which tells indigenous African stories with good moral values while Living Scrolls are Bible stories in pictures. In 2008, Literamed opened another office in Ghana, West Africa, which is being managed by a county manager.

–          Kachifo Limited

Kachifo Limited is an independent Nigerian publishing house set up in 2004 by Muhtar Bakare to tell our own stories. They are the publishers of Farafina Books, Prestige Books and Farafina Magazine until suspension of its publication in 2009.

Kachifo also established a non-profit trust, Farafina Trust, whose broad vision is to promote literature and literary skills in Africa. Kachifo limited aims to set high standards for editorial, conceptual and production quality in the Nigerian publishing industry.

–          Evans Publishers Limited

Evans Brothers Limited was incorporated in December 1966 and today Evans stands among Nigeria’s leading educational publishers. Evans books range from Nursery books, Primary school books, Junior Secondary school and Senior secondary school books.

–          Cassava Republic Press

Cassava Republic Press is obsessed with changing the way people think about fiction. Cassava Republic strongly believes that contemporary African writing should be rooted in African experience in all its diversity whether set in filthy-yet-sexy mega cities such as Lagos, in little-known rural communities, in the recent past or indeed the near future. They also think the time has come to build a new body of African writing that links writers across different time and spaces, following the marvelous example of the African Writers Series in the past.

Cassava Republic Press is based in Abuja, which is a bit like the English town Milton Keynes but set in the tropics. It’s a great place to be, with a modern infrastructure, gorgeous landscapes outside the city and all corners of the continent only a few hours flight away.

The design bible Monocle Magazine, listed Cassava Republic Press as one of the top ten brands to look out for in 2009.