Lack of national policy on printing business threatens industry – Stakeholders
Lack of government attention and protection for the Nigerian growing printing industry is sinking the industry which employs millions of Nigerians, decries stakeholders in the business.
They also criticized the absence of a national policy for the printing industry, a development which has assisted to allow Nigerians to print most of their jobs abroad. This, the stakeholders say is putting pressure on Naira and costing jobs in the Nigerian printing industry.
Speaking to BusinessDay at the Canon equipment exhibition in Lagos, entitled ‘Unleashtheprint’, the President of Printers Association of Nigeria, Olu Adefowope said the printing industry is the largest employer of labour after farming. He regretted that the jobs in the industry are being depleted due to lack of government patronage and protection of the local printing industry.
On what the nation loses annually as Nigerians print their jobs abroad, Adefowope said he cannot put figures to the amount on what Nigerians are spending annually in printing their jobs abroad but said “it is costing the nation huge amount of money and also it is costing people their jobs in Nigeria as these individuals and corporate are not patronizing local industries”
He practically declared that the printing industry presently is a sinking ship unless government patronises, stops overseas printing and enacts policy to protect the indusstry. He commended Canon which has entered the market to buoy it with offer of quality service with superior machines.
In his comment, Talal Akar, Business Controller, Tenaui Africa, representative of Canon equipment in Nigeria regretted that presently over 70 percent of printing jobs by Nigerians are executed overseas, a development which costs Nigeria billions of Naira annually and puts pressure on foreign exchange.
This is in spite of the enormous quality and growing printing industry in Nigeria. Akar who spoke at the exhibition of Canon equipment in Lagos attended by printers from various markets said Canon has come with quality printers in Nigeria for quality printing of any material.
Assuring on the Canon quality and after sales service, Akar said Tenaui receives support from Canon for training of engineers, installers and after sales engineers. “We train all our engineers in Dubai, Germany, America. This is to make sure that our equipment is handled with efficiency. Currently we have over 12 engineers and all certified by Canon officials and all were trained in various categories of works and machines from office printers to production printers”.
On toners, Akar further said that Tenaui is currently talking to SON to have labels on its toners coming in to Nigeria as well as spare parts. This, he believed will distinguish toners sold by Tenaui Africa and other third party dealers that import toners on their own.
In his comment, Sameh El Farra, COO of Canon B2B said Tenaui has brought Canon to the doorstep of consumers to allow printers give their customers the cutting edge service. “Canon is driving cutting edge technology in printing to support dreams of business globally”, he said.
According to him, the exhibition of Canon technology is to showcase what Canon can offer as Canon is interested in business growth of its partners. Karthi Keyan, Canon Central and North Africa said Canon is innovating constantly for consumers. At the exhibition held at Larex Hotels in Shomolu of Lagos, printers were delighted on the exhibition of latest printing solutions.
Daniel Obi