Printers charge Lagos to fulfil commitment on Shomolu IPP

Representatives of the 15,000 strong Shomolu commercial printing cluster in Lagos State have charged the state government to fulfil its promise to build a dedicated independent power plant (IPP) to service their own facilities like courts, local government, schools, hospitals, etc.

This is to free up power for business concerns around Shomolu and Yaba, to ease the acute power shortage currently witnessed in the areas.

In December 2011, the Lagos State government, through Taofiq Tijani, the then commissioner for energy and mineral resources, announced an initiative to ease power challenges in Shomolu by building a dedicated IPP for the state’s facilities in the area to reduce pressure on the national grid and free up power for the community.

Nearly five years after, the project is yet to commence. Informed sources at the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the State Electricity Board, who craved anonymity, said the government was now having a global view of the problem and its intervention was limited to critical and vulnerable segments of the state.

Olawale Oluwo, commissioner for energy and mineral resources, during the launch of the “Light up Lagos” initiative at Seme last month, said: “While the state cannot provide power for the citizens, through “Light up Lagos,” we aim to connect communities hitherto unconnected to the national grid as discos are not motivated to make critical investments in infrastructure in those areas.”

BusinessDay inquiries reveal that power supply in Shomolu and environs has reduced to about three or four hours weekly, resulting in small printing presses spending between N7,000 and N10,000 daily on fuel to power generators, while larger ones spend between N15,000 and N22,000 daily. This is despite revenue the state generates from the printers in the form of taxes.

BusinessDay also gathers that small presses within Shomolu numbering over 500 pay between N5,000 and N10,000 per month for permits, while larger ones are required to pay 30 percent of their earnings as income tax to the Federal Government and still make deductions for pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) to Lagos State.

This is in addition to sundry levies, including for Radio and Television licenses, exacted by Shomolu Local Government.

Mohammed Abubakar, registrar, Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON), said: “We call on the Lagos State government to intervene in this matter, as this problem is threatening our members.”

Shomolu, on the Lagos mainland, is the biggest printing cluster in Nigeria, employing over15,000 people including printers, lithographic machine operators, binders, paper dealers and artisans.

Printing presses there now spend over 30 percent of their operating cost on self-power generation as they accuse the Ikeja Distribution Company (IKEDC) of abdicating their responsibility to provide power for them. The company did not respond to inquiries for this story.

While businesses around Shomolu await respite, it continues to be a medley of ear-splitting sound from generating sets turning the atmosphere to a giant bedlam.

Aina Adegbenro, resident at Akeju Street, said: “We are now used to the noise, my infant child only has trouble sleeping when everywhere is quiet.”

Meanwhile, experts say generating sets constitute serious hazards both to the environment and human health.

“Exposure to diesel exhaust has been linked to lung cancer in occupational settings, and in Nigeria, the impact is seen in the rising numbers of non-smokers less than 60 years old,” stated Niyi Awofeso, health and environment expert, in a study published by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

But Shomolu, with a heaving cluster of residential and businesses, has learnt to live with the hazards.