Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) wants government agencies and parastatals to patronise made-in-Nigeria products to boost the country’s productive sector.
The chamber says locally-made products are faced with numerous challenges such as high cost of bringing in raw material and harsh operating business environment. It laments that these problems are worsened by absence of patronage by government agencies, which are the highest spenders in the economy.
Babatunde Ruwase, president, LCCI, at the inauguration of its Printing, Publishing and Allied (PPA) group in Lagos, said with the inauguration, the chamber would be able to focus more on issues hindering growth of the sector while addressing issues of raw material and backward integration.
“We have some facilities in Nigeria which have all gone moribund,” he said. “We will also seek ways on how the federal government will patronise local publishing and printing companies. It is also like a focus group that will pay attention to challenges affecting their sector.”
He said government must consider local publishing and printing companies as the first choice when doing businesses.
“The earlier we get government to patronise publishing and printing companies, the better for the sector and the economy at large.”
He said, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the size of the printing and publishing sector was N20 billion in 2018, pointing out that the sector was one of the fast-growing sectors in Nigeria with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of about six per cent and 0.03 percent in 2018.
“In response to the importance and performance of this sector, the chamber decided to create this group and we are very happy to identify with all the members of this vibrant group today,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Layo Okeowo, chairperson of the PPA Group, said the segment would give operators in the sector a viable platform to engage government on key policies affecting the sector and exchange ideas on the growth and development of the sector.
“Repositioning our industry to add immense value to our economy, which is said to have the capacity of attaining a value of $1 trillion by 2025, is out aim.”
“It is on record that this group has not been enjoying deserved patronage from various governments, Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” she said.
She lamented that most of the jobs, which should have been provided for local printers and publishers were taken overseas, stating that the time to engage the government and other stakeholders on issues affecting the sector was now.
She said local printers and publishers still had to depend on importation of papers due to the absence of paper mill in the country that could produce the required quality.
“Based on these painful realities, I am strongly persuaded that the time is ripe for printers and publishers to team up and establish a paper mill in the country to manufacture the quality papers that are required,” she said.
She also emphasised the need to reverse the current trend where the largest economic spender was not patronising members of the group, ensure that printing and publishing jobs are done locally to improve productivity, profitability of members to generate wealth and employment for the nation while also correct the general impression that members of the group lack the technical know-how as well as the capacity to deliver on most job contracted to foreign companies.
