Small Scale Paper Converters Association of Nigeria (SSPCAN) has joined hands with other concerned stakeholders in the printing industry to call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to revive the nation’s forgotten and ailing paper mills in order to put an end to the arbitrary rise in the cost of printing production aside creating employment opportunities to the teeming population.
According to President of SSPCAN – Mr. Segun Okanlawon who also double as a Committee Chairman of Association of Professional Printers of Nigeria (ASSPPON) Mushin Zone, the resuscitation of the paper mills would be one of the best dividends of democracy to printers in the country who are at the mercies of some shylock importers and suppliers that charge arbitrarily with attendant increase in cost of print.
He noted that with virtually all inputs and consumables in print production imported the Federal Government could start with the revival of the country’s paper mills in order to mitigate the impact of importation thereby decreasing dependence on imports thus creating alternate revenue generation to governments apart from creating employment with attendant multiplier effects on the overall economy.
The STB Global boss also noted that the high tariff on print consumables imported into the country has practically taken food off many printers’ tables and therefore make the profession less attractive to the coming generations; “most of us are losing our businesses to the Asian countries and they have gone beyond selling us papers but as of today majority of these Asia country representatives in Nigeria are now producing exercise books thereby competing with us and at the same time still be the one to sell us the papers that we use to produce our own exercise books as our governments have decided to ignore the constant cry of printers as regards reviving the ailing paper mills” he expressed.
While lauding the efforts of Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) so far in its efforts of organizing sensitization programmes and seminars to educate its members all over the country, Mr. Okanlawon also urged CIPPON to bring the sensitization program down to the grass root level in order to speak the language grass root printers will understand.
