Printers seek FG’s support to revamp paper mills

Sunday Aborisade

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s printing industry have urged the Federal Government to convene a summit of professional printers with a view to revamping the nation’s moribund paper mills.

The printers, who are representatives of privately-owned commercial printing presses, government printing corporations and members of the academic in the department of printing technology at various higher institutions, stated this at a news conference in Lagos.

They lamented that the nation was losing $1tn annually to import over one million metric tonnes of paper at the cost of $1,000 per tonne.

The group, which also called for the restructuring of the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria, noted that CIPPON had not been functioning since it was established 10 years ago.

The spokesperson for the body of printers, Mr. Olugbemi Malomo, told journalists that the immediate resuscitation of the paper mills in Iwopin, Oku-Iboku, and Jebba, remained the most viable option to save the nation’s printing industry.

Malomo said there were professionals in the industry that had the financial and intellectual capacity to turn the moribund firms around, in partnership with the Federal Government.

He said, “The National Book Policy recommends five books per pupil. With more than 20 million students in schools in Nigeria, over 100 million books are printed annually in the country.

“The most unfortunate aspect is that 75 per cent of these books are printed outside the country because the duty on importation of published book is zero per cent while importation of paper, as raw materials into the country, is up to 30 per cent. “

Malomo lamented that the industry was currently suffering the worst downturn in the nation’s history because many printing firms were closing down every day while thousands of skilled professionals were being thrown into the labour market.

He therefore called on the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to save the printing industry by repositioning CIPPON.

He alleged that the institute had been operating illegally since it was established 10 years ago by an Act of the National Assembly.

According to him, the Act provides a two-year tenure for the executive, renewable only once for the president of the institute.

He alleged that the current executive of the CIPPON had been in office since the establishment of the institute.

The printers therefore called for the immediate cancellation of the CIPPON Annual General Meeting proposed for March 15 because it was not properly constituted.

Malomo said, “The minister should constitute a committee to conduct a credible election for the institute because the current executive has been operating illegally since the past 10 years.

“The minister should also invoke the powers vested on him in the Act by ordering the immediate relocation of the institute secretariat from the president’s personal residence.”

When contacted, the Registrar of the institute, Mallam Ndagi Mohammed, said CIPPON was not being run illegally as claimed by the group.

He said, “CIPPON is recognised by law and we are following the provisions of the Act which established the institute, to run it.”

Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: editor@punchng.com