Nigeria Spends Over ₦50bn Annually On Importation Of Paper, Paper Products

A Paper Mill

The director-general of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Dr. Hussaini Ibrahim has said the nation spends over ₦50 billion on paper and paper products’ importation annually. He disclosed this at a One-day Forum for stakeholders in the pulp, paper and paper products, printing and publishing sector, with the theme ‘Optimizing pulp and paper production in Nigeria’ organized by the council in collaboration with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Lagos.

The RMRDC boss attributed the capital flight in the sector to the inability of the three integrated pulp and paper mills, the Nigerian Paper Mill (NPM), the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company (NNMC) and Nigerian National Paper Manufacturing Company (NNPMC) established by the Federal Government in the 1960s and 1970s to maintain and sustain optimal capacity utilization.

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According to him, “two of the mills, the NPM and the NNMC were commissioned and were producing creditably in the 1980s, but the NNMC was shut down in 1993 and the NPM in 1996 due to low level production and poor quality products because of non-availability of local long fibre pulps and other technical problems. The NNPMC was not commissioned at all. The NPM started production of kraft papers after about a decade closure but under private sector while the NNMC and the NNPMC also under private sector have not yet started production.”

He decried the fact that the country expends such a huge amount on the importation of paper and paper products annually resulting in economic loss estimated at about ₦153.05 billion between 2006 – 2009 due to non-performance of the three mills, saying the loss would hit about ₦180 billion naira before the end of 2015.

He said: “Available statistics show that the country expends about N50 billion on the importation of paper and paper products annually. Studies carried out locally indicated that the cost of the delay in the privatised mills to commence production is enormous to the economy. The cost implication of the non-performance of the NPM, Jebba in 2006, 2007 and 2008 to the economy was ₦7.8 billion on annual basis. It only reduced to ₦6. 85 billion in 2009 resulting in a 4-year deficit turn-over of ₦30.25 billion between 2006 – 2009.

“Also, the cost implication of non-performance by NNMC, Oku-Iboku, to the economy on annual basis from 2006 – 2009 was ₦18.76 billion. Within the four years considered, the deficit turn-over to the economy amounted to ₦74.8 billion. The total cost of non-performance of the three mills to the economy within the four-year period was estimated at about ₦153. 05 billion in 2009, and this has been calculated to be about ₦180 billion before the end of 2015.”

Ibrahim represented by the director of agriculture and agro-allied department of the council, Dr Abimbola Ogunwusi, stressed that the much touted poverty alleviation and employment generation aspirations of government at all levels might not be realizable if the mills continued to be comatose, noting the need for new investments in the sector if the country is to become self-sufficient in pulp and paper production. He highlighted the need to bridge the gap between the recent technological developments in the sector and the obsolete pulp and paper facilities in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the director-general of MAN, Chief Remi Ogunmefun said the forum was timely as the industry was facing a lot of challenges in procuring raw materials considering the recent dearth of foreign exchange which according to him has technically hindered manufacturers from procuring essential raw materials that should keep the factories going.

He noted that the paper industry in Nigeria had come a long way in terms of technological innovations and huge investments that are being put in place by many industrialists in the sector.

Ogunmefun, who was represented by the director of the association’s department of administration, Mr Ambrose Oruche, urged participants to make meaningful contributions and recommendations capable of feeding into planning and policy framework to be used as guides in the diversification process of recovering the Nigerian economy and the paper industry in particular, even as he advised government to stimulate local industrial production through consistent patronage of locally made products.

In his paper presentation entitled “Private sector participation in the pulp and paper industry in Nigeria and utilization of agricultural wastes (plantain pseudostem, screw pine and nypa palm leaves) in handmade paper, the lead researcher on handmade paper and small scale paper production in the department of chemistry, University of Uyo, Prof. Ukana Akpabio, said pulp and paper industry had a multiply effect on the economy and contributed significantly to the social, political and educational development of a nation.

He called for the resuscitation of the sector, underlining the important role of private investors in this regard. “To reactivate this sector of our economy the private investors are called upon to participate in the development of the pulp and paper industry in all its ramifications: pulpwood cultivation, pulping of these raw materials, production of paper additives, direct paper making and conversion, and in the paper trade business, for there is a very high demand for papers in the country to make their investment profitable.”

According to him, “their involvement in the pulp and paper making will make Nigeria self-reliant in paper production and this in turn will improve the standard of education, political awareness and social integration of the citizens as papers will be readily available and cheap for publishing educational materials, political decisions and edicts and news in the daily newspapers for everyone to read and be well informed in the current affairs.”

In his presentation entitled “Long fibre pulp production in Nigeria: prospects and challenges,” Dr Oluwadare Oluwafemi of the department of forest resources management, University of Ibadan, said a recent research conducted at the university showed that no commercial industry on handmade paper existed at present in Nigeria. He, however, noted that the nation has all it takes to produce enough paper for its utilization without importing the products, pointing to the huge employment opportunities and economic empowerment that accrue from the industry.