He, however, said the industry was under the siege of “a few foreigners” who had monopolised the market and made it impossible for Nigerians to freely import paper into the country.
Speaking to our correspondent, he said, “I started my printing firm called Celama Prints in 2005 with no machines, which was ok as of that time because there was no funding. However, the business seemed so lucrative because we did not have these foreigners; Indians and Lebanese at that time. Suddenly they just came and dominated our markets and our people business owners prefer to patronise them.
“Nigerians and business people prefer to patronise foreigners because they believe they came with more efficient machines and have the technical know-how. But the truth is when they do so, they end up putting somebody like me who has the machines, skill, manpower and technical know-how at risk. Sometimes these expatriates charge them higher than we would.
“They know where the papers are made and they get them at a very cheap cost; they use big machines of very high capacity and they even get regular and consistent power supply, which the locals cannot boast of. He added, “In the early 70s, we had Onward Exercise Books, but they have stopped production now. Why? Foreigners have edged the local production out. Most of the books and texts used in Nigeria are produced by foreigners.
Also, in January 2023, CIPPON threatened to drag the Independent National Electoral Commission to court for allegedly printing a large chunk of its electoral materials overseas. “They established the Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba, Kwara State, in 1969; Iwopin Pulp and Paper Company, Ogun State in 1975, and Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company in Oku-Iboku, Akwa Ibom, in 1986.
He said, “Local printers don’t have the capacity; they won’t meet up because they depend on imports: the paper, ink, and even the machines are all imported. Everything in the industry is almost 100 or 90 per cent import dependent.” “Today, only those that have stayed long in the business and have large capital are doing well. Those that have stayed 20 to 40 years and have the capacity for the business, that is, access to bank loans, machines, and others. However, they are still struggling because publishing and printing are completely import-dependent,” he added.
No business booms forever. The days of papers are coming to an end. People tranfer messages electronically now.
But ministry of technology has been active in the PMB score scard series aired always on NTA, abi all those score points they were awarding to Buhari are all false points ?
check my second to the last tweet and retweet....