Paper long abstract:

Nigerian bookselling business started in 1869 when the CMS bookshop was opened in Lagos. R.O. Ekundare said that in 1873, the British Colonial government in Lagos exempted from import duties, educational books and other materials required by the administration. That statement spotlighted the issues of the booksellers dealing mainly on school textbooks and also of dependence on imported books. It is the social structure of a country which determines the attitude of the people towards the writing and reading of books. The Nigerian educational system has been adversely criticised as one based on rote. The students are not encouraged to carry out research and to continue reading after gaining their paper qualifications. Nigeria, with a population of about 120 million produces less than 25, 000 books per year.

Different kinds of bookselling exist in Nigeria and there is no uniformity of practice among all of them. The open market booksellers, for example, have been called the "Shylock Bookseller". They have been accused of hoarding books and by so doing, create artificial scarcity. There are some common problems facing all Nigerian booksellers such as piracy; illiteracy among booksellers; governent's negative attitude towards books; scarcity of books, and high price of books.