Engendering Sustainable Development through the Adoption of Digital Publishing Innovations

Access to information may have contributed to the yawning gap between Nigeria's wealth in human and material resources and the level of development recorded. Sustainable development can be engendered through the adoption of digital publishing innovations by publishers in the dispensation of their corporate social responsibility often geared towards developing the total person in society. In Nigeria, available gadgets for accessing publications and processing information can be adopted to solve fundamental problems that hitherto plagued production and distribution of information resources. Since ICTs facilitate content development and dissemination, they can be employed for adequate supply of educational books, agricultural extension information in any language, access to and participation in political dialogues, materials for language learning, etc. Therefore, the publishing industry in Nigeria has at its disposal all that it needs to join the world of e-publishing and e-solutions. The central objective of this chapter, therefore, is to argue that Nigerian publishers are in the position to ensure sustainable development through digital publication and dissemination of information resources, even beyond their present educational books niche, to meet other unmet book and information needs. This is because e-books are easier to market and distribute, and e-payment eliminates transaction bottlenecks. Publishers, however, need the support of government through a viable book policy, stable curriculums, and provision of digital tools to schools; cooperation of and collaboration with the academia (or established material developers); and collaboration with mobile network owners (for effective dissemination).