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.As Printers decry patronage of foreign printing firms by INEC, UBEC, others

Omeiza Ajayi, Abuja

Disturbed by the growing resort to incendiary comments by partisans, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has convened a meeting of all political parties and security agencies with a view to stemming the tide.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja while declaring open the ‘Training of Master Trainers on Election Technology for the 2023 General Election’.

The development came as the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON), begged the Federal Government to come up with policies that would make it compulsory for INEC and the Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC to stop patronizing foreign printing firms.

The national president of CIPPON, Mr. Olugbemi Malomo, made the request in Abuja at the Nigerian International Paper and Pulp Summit.

The event tagged ‘Bridging The Gap In Local Pulp And Paper Production in Nigeria’, and it was declared open by the Minister of Industry, Trade And Investments, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo.

Malomo told industry players and regulators on the occasion that the heavy reliance of Federal Government major spenders like INEC and UBEC on foreign printers was killing the local printing firms.

He lamented that the country was importing printed material worth over N1trn on annual basis, a situation he noted was not good for the nation’s economy.

Malomo said: “A few months from now we shall be having our general elections.

“Hundreds of thousands of tons of paper costing the nation billions of naira will be used in the elections, and I want you to know that all the papers will be imported.

“If we are going to make meaningful development, and move from a consumer nation to a production one, we need a paradigm shift whereby big government spenders like INEC and UBEC should be using our money to develop local production capacity.

“The Federal Government should come up with a deliberate policy that would make its big spenders like the INEC and UBEC be part of the solution to local paper production.

“With 60 per cent of Nigeria’s population in one school or the other, over 1. 2 billion books are printed annually in Nigeria. All the paper used is imported into the country.

“Two decades ago 400, 000 people were employed in the paper supply chain at the inception of the three paper mills established in Nigeria . Today it has shrunk to less than 50,000”.

On his part, the Minister, however, told stakeholders at the gathering that his ministry was working on an industrial revolution to revamp the sector in Nigeria.

He lamented that only one out of the three major paper Mills in the country was working at 30 per cent installed capacity while the others were moribund.

Adebayo admitted that the current reliance on foreign printing materials and recycled ones by the nation’s printing firms was not healthy for the country’s economy.

The Minister said: “While we continue to work towards a breakthrough in paper and paper product manufacturing in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment will continue to apply necessary fiscal policy measures to protect and promote the existing paper Industries in the sector in the overall interest of the economy.”

Campaign violence

Speaking at a separate event on the 2023 election, the INEC Chairman noted that over the last two years, the Commission has increased the deployment of technology in the elections in Nigeria.

He declared that all its technological innovations, especially the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) have come to stay as a means of voter accreditation and transmission of election results.

He however lamented that even as the Commission is working hard to ensure a credible process in the forthcoming elections, reports of clashes among parties and their supporters in some States of the country during the ongoing electioneering campaign are worrisome.

“So too is the reported denial of access to public facilities for parties and candidates in some States of the Federation. Let me caution parties and their supporters to focus on issues and steer clear of attacks on each other. These are not only violations of the Electoral Act 2022 but also negate the voluntary commitment by all political parties and candidates to the letter and spirit of the Peace Accord signed about three weeks ago under the auspices of the National Peace Committee (NPC). Parties, candidates and their supporters should not by acts of commission or omission further complicate the prevailing security situation in the country. A peaceful electioneering campaign is critical to the conduct of peaceful and credible elections.

“The Commission will continue to monitor the situation closely and will convene a meeting with leaders of political parties next week to discuss, among other issues, the imperative of peaceful campaigns and equal access to public facilities. In the same vein, the Commission will also meet with the security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) next week”, he stated.