Manufacturers want FG to revisit paper mills privatisation
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria are calling on the Federal Government to revisit the privatisation of paper mills on the back of their non-performance.
The Federal Government privatised Nigeria Paper Mill (NPM)Limited located in Jebba, Kwara State; Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company (NNMC)Limited, Oku-Iboku, Akwa Ibom State; and Nigerian National Paper Manufacturing Company (NNPMC) Limited in Ogun State. But only Jebba plant is producing skeletally.
According to MAN, it is important to revoke the privatisation of these mills, as the country meets almost all of its paper demands from abroad. This has become more imperative now as there are few greenbacks available for paper importation, MAN stated.
“This is an area we should do well. But apart from Jebba, which is producing skeletally, others are not working,” said Frank Jacobs, president, MAN, in a telephone interview.
“The government needs to revisit the privatisation to make sure these mills are working again. This is something that has strategic importance for the country,” Jacobs said.
“State government needs to provide land to enable paper mills grow pulp,” he added.
Nigeria is losing N180 billion from non-performance of the three paper mills in the country, according to the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). The prices of newsprints and other types of paper have risen on the back of foreign exchange scarcity. Newspaper houses responded earlier this year by raising copy prices from N150 to N200/N250.
Abimbola Ogunwusi of the RMRDC said the Nigeria Paper Mill commenced rehabilitation immediately after privatisation and started production in the 2009.
Ogunwusi said the major problems the mills face even after becoming fully operational are dependence on imported long fibre pulp and chemicals, adding that there is a need to deepen the local market, transfer technology transfer to generate employment and reduce the cost of local paper products.
Samson Ololade Ogundele, ex-senior manager, Nigeria Paper Mill Limited, Jebba, Kwara State in Lagos, recently said there is sabotage from companies who bought these mills.
“The co-investor that bought the Nigeria Paper Mill (NPM) Limited did not buy it to help Nigeria,” said Samson Ololade Ogundele, ex-senior manager, Nigeria Paper Mill Limited, Jebba, Kwara State in Lagos.
“I know it was valued at about N30 billion in Nigeria as at 1995, but this same mill was given to the investor at N334 million in 2008. The aim of the government in handing over the mill is to create jobs and improve the economy. The majority of Nigerians working in Nigeria Paper Mill –both junior and senior—are all casual,” Ogundele disclosed, adding that the Federal Government must re-visit the privatisation in spite of the fact that it is the only paper mill working at the moment.
Oluwadare Oluwafemi, a professor in the department of agriculture and forestry, University of Ibadan, identified the inability to source long fibre trees as one key reason for the non-performance of the mills.
Oluwafemi lamented the poor funding to research institutions, while calling for the establishment of pulp and paper institute to save the country from these humongous losses.
“It is unfortunate that 90 percent of papers used in Nigeria are imported,” Oluwafemi said, while presenting a paper entitled, ‘Long Fibre Pulp Production in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges’, calling for the reversal of the privatisation process which he said was faulty.
He also canvassed for the establishment of ‘Indigenous Long Fibre Pulpwood Improvement Programme’.
Ukana Akpabio, professor of chemistry at University of Uyo, said the country is yet to utilise enormous pulp and paper materials (fibrous and non-fiborous) in the country, adding that there must be a well-defined strategy to develop the struggling industry.
ODINAKA ANUDU