The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) has appealed to the Federal Government to come up with policies to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) other agencies from patronising foreign printing firms.
Olugbemi Malomo, the national president of CIPPON, made the appeal in Abuja at the Nigerian International Paper and Pulp Summit, tagged: ‘Bridging The Gap In Local Pulp And Paper Production in Nigeria’.
Malomo lamented that the heavy reliance of Federal Government’s major spenders like INEC and UBEC on foreign printers is killing the local printing industry.
He disclosed that the country was importing printed material worth over N1 trillion on annual basis, a situation he noted was not good for the nation’s economy.
“A few months from now we shall be having our general elections.
Hundreds of thousand of tons of paper costing the nation billions of naira will be used in the elections , and I want you to know that all the papers will be imported,” Malomo said.
“If we are going to make meaningful development, and move from a consumer nation to a production one ,we need a paradigm shift whereby big government spenders like INEC and UBEC should be using our money to develop local production capacity.
“The Federal Government should come up with a deliberate policy that would make its big spenders like the INEC and UBEC to be part of the solution to local paper production.
“With 60 pe rcent of Nigeria’s population in one school or the other , over 1. 2 billion books are printed annually in Nigeria . All the paper used is imported into the country.
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“Two decades ago over 400, 000 people were employed in the paper supply chain at the inception of the three paper mills established in Nigeria . Today it has shrinked to less than 50,000.
“The current model of paper importation in a fragile and challenged global supply chain system is no longer sustainable and every player in the value chain must as a necessity embrace and begin to prepare for the reality of the need to change to local production of pulp and paper for the competitiveness and survival of our businesses,” Malomo said.
While declaring the summit open, Adeniyi Adebayo, the minister of industry, trade and investments said his ministry was working on an industrial revolution to revamp the sector in Nigeria.
Adebayo lamented that only one out of the three major paper mills in the country was working at 30 per cent installed capacity while the others were moribund.
He admitted that the current reliance on foreign printing materials and the recycled ones by the nation’s printing firms, was not healthy for the country’s economy.
The Minister said: “In line with the vision of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, a Backward Integration Policy Programme was Initiated in the paper sector.
“It was with the aim of encouraging businesses and farmers to venture Into commercial wood pulp farming while at the same time encouraging intermediate paper and paper product manufacturing companies in the country to key into the process of backward integration with a view to sourcing paper pulp materials locally.
“The results have been promising. What is needed is to develop the right paper making technology to complement the research findings.
“While we continue to work towards a breakthrough In paper and paper product manufacturing in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment will continue to apply necessary fiscal policy measures to protect and promote the existing paper Industries in the sector in the overall interest of the economy.”
