Apparently worried by ceaseless losses recorded annually in form of capital flight to foreign lands as a result of imports of newsprint and other paper products, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has reignited calls for immediate resuscitation of three moribund Nigeria’s pulp and paper mills located in Iwopin, Ogun state; Jebba in Kwara state; and Oku-Iboku in Akwa Ibom state.
BusinessDay gathered that bureaucratic problems, shoddy privatization policy and lack of recapitalization have dealt a big blow to the sustenance of three pulp and paper mills in the country, namely, Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba in Kwara state; the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Oku-Iboku in Akwa Ibom state and the National Paper Manufacturing Company, Iwopin in Ogun state.
The collapse of these three state-owned pulp and paper mills as well as newsprint manufacturing plants has brought series of hardships on the country’s economy, leading to huge losses of several billions of dollars to foreign lands, just as the forest reserves and Gmelina plantations dedicated for pulp, paper and newsprint processing and production have also been deforested.
Speaking on the effort of MAN and other government agencies to resuscitate the moribund pulp and paper mills in Nigeria, Layo Okeowo, Chair, Printing and Paper Group of MAN, expressed dissatisfaction over government’s shoddy arrangement that propelled total collapse of pulp and paper mills in the country, which has paved way for some recycling plants that are owned and operated by Chinese investors.
Okeowo noted at Governor Dapo Abiodun’s parley with investors held in Abeokuta on Tuesday, that the total collapse of Nigeria’s pulp and paper mills accounts for financial and economic losses in the paper and printing industry as imports of such products are increasing on daily basis, paving way for capital flight, loss of jobs, patronage of sub standard pulp and paper products, which she declared, are not in the best interest of Nigerian economy.
She however said that MAN had begun a tripartite arrangement with the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) and Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) to drive government’s participation and policy in resuscitating and establishment of new pulp and paper mills with a view to drastically reducing foreign exchange used to import newsprint and other paper products to the country.
Okeowo revealed that arrangement were in the final stage to drive establishment of paper research institute in Ogun state being one of the host states of pulp and paper mills, coupled with abundance of resources required for both pulp and paper processing and production as well as technical know-how for the creation of paper research institute.
“No functional paper mills in Nigeria, the only two paper recycling companies in Nigeria are owned by Chinese investors, and we are losing several billions of dollars to imports of newsprints and other paper products annually. Paper research institute is one of what we need to save us lots of foreign exchange which we all use to import papers.
“Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) are already assisting us in doing it, but we need support of Ogun state government, we need partnership of Governor Dapo Abiodun to be able to achieve that”, she concluded.
