By Princewill Ekwujuru
Operators in the printing industry have bemoaned the quality of printing papers, while calling on government and local printing paper producers to ensure that the quality of the printing papers measure up to imported printing paper standard.

The Operators made the call at a three day printing machine and other accessories exhibition in Lagos, organized by Tenaui Africa at the instance of Canon, manufacturers of Canon printing machines, saw the operators lamenting on the state of the printing industry in Nigeria.

Speaking on behalf of the Operators, Founder of CMYK Studios, Dotun Adekunle, who spoke on several issues bedeviling the industry, said there are challenges in the printing industry especially during the period the exchange was scarce and went up. “It became a huge challenge, especially the last two or three years, it has been very tough because most of the materials for printing are imported e.g. Papers, tonners, cartridges, Inks and a lot others are imported . I think that the way forward is for at least printing papers to be produced locally.

I think government needs to look at this area, there is a large market and demand for paper. We have timber, why should we be importing paper. It does not make any economic sense.”

On what is responsible, he said that lack of local competence and poor power supply were the major issues confronting the printing industry in Nigeria.

On power, he said: You use half of your resources generating power, then it become very difficult , even when you produce at a very high rate you cannot compete internationally , because if you are going to produce paper , one ream of paper you are producing is N25,000 and the imported paper is imported for N23,000 or N24, 000, customers are going to go for the lesser priced and meanwhile your paper is not as quality in standard like the imported one, it is your cost, now it becomes very difficult.’’

He however noted that the papers produced locally today are not of the same quality with those imported.

Further, he stated: “I think there are areas people need to invest in, the area of paper recycling production, Recycling is a major case to consider. For us to get the technology right, recycled paper is as quality and original as the imported ones.’’

Adekunle who agreed that paper recycling is very capital intensive, said, “it is not just any other business. You know that Nigeria is almost like a commercial state what we do primarily is buying and selling, because production is capital intensive , it require technical expertise, needs a lot of machinery, and a lot of capital outflow , and that is a challenge. May be development banks and the other stakeholders’ can do more.”

Speaking, Managing Director , Tenaui Africa Limited, Yasser El-Farra, said Nigeria and Egypt holds over 50 percent of business opportunities in Africa, with Nigeria having the biggest market and potential for growth, that formed the reason for choosing Nigeria for the exhibition.

Nigeria and Egypt holds over 50 percent of business opportunities in Africa, Nigeria has the biggest potential as you know , has the biggest market and potential for growth and development is enormous this is why we choose Nigeria.

There is reason for the choice of Nigeria, “this is because the heart of Africa is Nigeria, in business in Africa Nigeria has the biggest share.

The Nigeria market is changing dramatically to be honest. What we saw as a challenge, specifically in terms of infrastructure has changed and we believe tomorrow will be much better. The Nigeria market is huge and has the biggest resources, which is manpower.”

He also stated that Canon as a business is happy with the business environment in Nigeria. Nigeria remains the biggest business partner of Canon. We have plan for more business expansion, new businesses areas and growth.