Head of the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Robert Ebo Hinson has called for the development of a comprehensive National Book Policy.

This he says will help to promote the viability of the local book publishing industry.

"I think the local publishers need a lot of help because publishing is very capital intensive. When you talk to them, you get the sense that most of them are struggling. So this renewed focus will help to raise them to the level we all want", he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event to donate some of his books to the Balme Library at the University of Ghana, Prof. Robert Hinson noted that, apart from the basic levels, there is no compelling policy to include local content in course material in programs, especially at the tertiary educational level of the country.

"We need to have a national Book Policy if we don’t have one. And we need to take steps to actively commit either Vice Chancellors Ghana or NCTE, to maybe consider a policy that makes it mandatory for certain proportion of reading material to be local’, he stressed. 

Prof. Hinson added that, an inclusion of relevant local content which are relatable will encourage students to read more and generally revive the dying reading culture in the country.

"Students in emerging economies should not only be taught from the standard literature but with examples from the local context where they are studying.

"When I was going to school, everything was ‘Belch and Belch’. It will shock you to know that there are some Ghanaian lecturers who would rather pick a foreign book over a local one with content that students can relate to.

"But my point is, we need to connect the concept to the context", he maintained.