The Nation Newspaper

Tag: paper

  • Resuscitate paper mills

    Resuscitate paper mills

    • Emmanuel Chidi-Maha, Kehinde Abayomi and Mmesoma Ozor

    On the quest for a more-diversified economy away from oil, stakeholders in the book industry are searching for in. They are calling for the resuscitation of moribund paper mills. 

      According to them, paper milling holds the potential of becoming a major revenue earner.

    The industry key players made the submission at the unveiling of The Fine Art of Bookselling: Reflections of Nigeria’s Industry Stakeholders, written by the Chairman, Nigerian Book Fair Trust, Mr. Michael Oluwadare Oluwatuyi.

    The book captures the beautiful back stories of the book industry and how much it has evolved with each generation.

    The unveiling drew industry practitioners in the book value chain, including Director-General of Nigerian Copyrights Commission (NCC), Dr. John Asein (special guest); Chairman, Accessible Publishers Limited,   Mr. Gbadega Adedapo; Managing Director/CEO, Havilah Group of Companies, Lagos, Chief Olanrewaju Damion Adesuyi (launch Chairman); FAE Limited, Princess Funlayo Bakare Okeowo (the event sponsor).

    Okeowo, whose firm is one of Nigeria’s largest envelope manufacturing companies, made a case for the resuscitation of the paper mills and institution of a paper research institute.

    While urging Nigeria to borrow a leaf from Egypt that is investing in its book industry, she was of the view that the sector, which has paper production at its foundation, has the potential of surpassing crude oil.

    “Oil is not everything. Paper is our second oil. A ton of paper today is about one thousand three hundred dollars per ton and if we are able to make paper in Nigeria imagine how much we would be making in the exportation of papers. Everybody believes that paper is made of wood, but research has shown that we can use other things to make paper. For instance, we can use the Kenaf plant which we can grow in the north. (Kenaf is historically used as a cordage crop (rope, twine, and sackcloth) and its commercial uses evolved to other different uses such as paper products and building materials, among others.

    “Paper mill is a huge investment. Let us borrow an example from Egypt; it has over fifty five paper mills. Where are our paper mills? As I’ve said, wood is not the only raw material that can be used to produce paper. We can also use our old clothes; bangles and even our ewedu to make paper. That is where the government comes in. Resuscitate our paper mills. Begin by instituting paper research institutes. The paper industry is big enough to have several paper mills and a paper research institute. The government should look into revamping the industry: they can make it another oil by investing in the industry,” Okeowo said.

    Similarly, the Lead Consultant, Double-O Communications, Lagos, Dr. Olayinka Oyegbile, who reviewed the book, said the book industry (by extension book trade) accounts for a huge revenue base of the economy, stating: “Book selling contributes immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

    While stating that the book raises dust over the dire issues militating against the development of the sector, Oyegbile reiterated Okeowo’s words; observing that books and materials for producing it are very costly because we do not have our own mills. He, therefore, called for government intervention to ensure the reading culture does not continue to dwindle.  

    Restating the commission’s determination to add value to what the sector players are already doing, Asein stated that NCC will be regulating the sector as enshrined in the new Copyright Act.

    “The bookstore is always a treasure. There must be some minimum regulation of where books are sold, how books are sold and there must be minimum documentation to ensure that pirates do not take over this market. I can assure you that we will get the book sector back. And whatever it will take, from the government side, we will do that,” he said.

    Other dignitaries at the event were former Director-General, Nigerian Law School, Abuja; Prof. Olanrewaju A. Onadeko (SAN) and President, Network of Book Clubs and Reading Culture Promoters in Nigeria (NBRP), Mr. Richard Mammah, who anchored the event.

  • WASSCE papers did not leak, says WAEC

    The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said none of its papers in the ongoing May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) leaked before schedule.
    Rather, the  Council explained that fraudulent supervisors, invigilators and candidates likely sent pictures of questions during live exams to rogue website to treat and send answers to their subscribers.
    The clarification was in reaction to a recent media report on examination malpractice syndicates which claimed to provide leaked question papers and answers for candidates writing the current examination.
    In a statement made available by the WAEC Director of Public Affairs, Mr Demianus Ojijeogu, the Council said:
    “The Council would like to emphasize that the question papers for  the ongoing WASSCE for School Candidates , 2018 did not leak as has been erroneously portrayed in the media.
    “Leakage can be said to have occurred when the question papers gets into  hands of individuals who are not supposed to have them before the time  scheduled on the timetable. Without any iota of doubt the Council wishes to  state that no case of leakage has been established since the beginning of  the examination.
    “Our monitoring and investigations of the ongoing examination have  established the fact that certain School Principals, Invigilators, Supervisors
    and Candidates who had succeeded in smuggling mobile phones and other  electronic devices into the examination hall, snap the question papers after the examination must have commenced and forward to their criminal  collaborators who in turn provide solutions to the questions and send to
    their subscribers via rogue websites, sms, WhatsApp and other social  media.”
    The Council also praised the police for arresting some exam malpractice fraudsters and called for further partnership with telecoms operators and others to catch malpractice syndicates.
    “The Council is willing to collaborate with well meaning Nigerians, Civil Society Groups, Corporate Organisations that are ICT Inclined, Telecom Companies, States Ministries of Education, Deposit Money  Banks, relevant Security Agencies, the Media and other stakeholders to neutralize the threat being posed by examination malpractice to education  in Nigeria,” the statement said.

  • Jabby Jay drops ‘Paper’

    Rapper Jabby Jay has dropped a new single titled ‘Paper.’ Nigerian rapper Jabby Jay whose real name is Jabbar Usman, has dropped a new single titled ‘Paper.’

    Signed under Tone Def Music Company, the afro hip hop song was roduced by E Kelly.

    Jabby Jay who is also a producer started his music career at age 16 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and has worked with different artistes till date as he plans to release more songs.

     

  • Madeline Berah, the African Detective in the missing government papers (9)

    Unfortunately, my sister blamed me. She said I used juju to take her son’s star and distribute it among my children; that’s why they are now doing fine and her son is languishing.

    ‘After trying everything I could, I finally got him a job in another ministry hoping he would build a career and rise on the job. But he got involved with a bad group and started misbehaving, stealing and all that, and he got sacked. I decided to bring him here right under my nose so I could keep an eye on him. So, I came to you sir and you gave him a job, and now a fine job I seem to have done. What am I going to do? If he goes to prison, what am I going to tell the mother?’ She started to cry again.

    Aunt Deline was grieved. She hated to see a woman cry.

    ‘Don’t worry, the permanent secretary will be magnanimous. He will not press charges.’

    The permanent secretary sighed and agreed that he would not; he wanted to keep the matter quiet anyway. But the young man must recount how he got hold of the papers because he, the permanent secretary, thought he guarded it jealously enough.

    After a lot of coaxing, the cleaner opened his mouth and explained.

    ‘I had been present when the paper was brought to the office by the boy sent to deliver it. The secretary, my aunt, had not seen the contents of the envelope before she went to the restroom. While she was away, I quickly looked in the envelope and decided that the papers were very important so I just bid my time.

    ‘Whenever I cleaned the office, I noticed that Oga would make sure his briefcase was near his feet just behind his desk. So, I just watched for the times he went to the toilet and how long he spent there. One day, I saw him go to the toilet because the door was slightly open and my aunt was not around, and since I knew the shape, size and colour of the envelope, it was not difficult for me to get it within half a minute. Before he came out, I had done what I wanted to do and was already back on my seat pretending to sleep when he came to see if anyone was waiting for him here.’

    ‘But why did you take it?’ his aunt asked in exasperation.

    ‘I saw the gambling receipts. They were more important than the other papers. I was going to sell them back to the owner.’

    The inspector spoke. ‘Do you know that blackmail is a criminal offence?’

    ‘And supposing the man killed you instead of paying you? What then?’ his aunt asked again.

    Aunt Deline stood up. It was our cue. ‘I think our job here is done. We should allow the good permanent secretary to get on with his job.’

    The permanent secretary stood up too. ‘I know that if I asked you how you knew that the envelope was on the young man, you would not tell me. But at least let me pay you.’

    ‘Oh, I don’t mind telling you’, replied Aunt Deline. ‘I was not expecting anyone to be ‘wearing’ the papers; I was expecting to have to lift up every carpet in the place or go through the toilets, but I was prepared to be surprised anyhow so I paid attention to everything.

    ‘When the cleaner came in, I noticed that the left side of the front of his jacket was infinitesimally more swollen than the other side.

    ‘And I was prepared to find it with someone else, not him. It was when you mentioned the cleaner that it hit me, fool that I was. I don’t mind confessing that I very nearly missed that. Thanks. It just shows that we all live and learn.

    ‘As for payment, I must tell you that while I do not accept money as a rule, I am not above accepting favours, which I will mention when my niece and the good inspector and your secretary leave us alone. By the way, (turning to the secretary) what your nephew requires is the service of a good psychoanalyst. I will give you a recommendation to a good friend of mine.’

    With that, the inspector and I left the office. I cannot report what favour Aunt Deline asked the permanent secretary but I certainly hoped it would concern her job. The next week, however, a large crate containing an inverter with a two and a half KvH capacity was delivered to our flat. This meant not only did we have a power source for me to do my reading, the fridge and the fans in the flat could be powered without the accompanying stress or noise that generators give.

    More importantly, Aunt Deline received a personal call that day from the manager of the electricity company apologising for the ‘crazy bill his boys’ had forwarded to her flat, and that she should discountenance them. I think she did not need a second invitation.

    When I asked Aunt Deline just how she had arm-twisted the poor permanent secretary, she only said that the man was very lucky, he could have lost his job. In that case, someone needed to be providentially placed to receive his gratitude. Who better than us?, she asked.

    When I also asked her why she had not asked him to connect her for a job at the proposed university, however, she brushed me off. ‘Let us live one day at a time, right?’ I marvelled at her. Once again, she had put my need to study ahead of her even more important need for a job!

    In the evening, when the inspector came to visit, he informed us that the permanent secretary never did find out the person that sent the papers to him; maybe a disgruntled fellow gambler, who knows? Most importantly, the permanent secretary had been able to tell the governor that the press reports were not true, and nothing was missing from his office. Also, the senior director concerned in the story had been dismissed from service on the basis of the incriminating evidence.

    ‘Now,’ said Aunt Deline, ‘he can become a full-time gambler. People who do not know the worth of their job do not deserve to keep it.’

    ‘Yes,’ agreed the inspector, ‘work is sacred. The work you do is a huge responsibility that you owe the country, your fellowmen and your maker. Through your effective work, you send a message to nature that the human society should continue. This is why nature hates the disruptions that come through ineffective work. Talking of effectiveness, how were you able to deduce so that the envelope was in the vicinity?

    ‘I paid attention. I told you that you must think cyclically. Let me tell you, in cases of this sort, it’s often the little things that count the most. While everyone was looking up at the most important things about the case  where the permanent secretary had been that day, what he did or did not do, the strength of the briefcase, etc., — I was more interested in the little things and one visit to this place assured me of all I wanted to know.’

    ‘And what was that?’

    ‘The psychological state of the secretary. If I had found her inscrutable, it would have deepened my suspicion of her further. But I found her rude, but sad and in pain. So, I knew that one, she probably did not take the papers, and two, she had her suspicion of who did. When I found her at her filing cabinet, I believed she thought the thief had hidden it there and she was hoping to surprise him. Poor lady; how was she to know the extent to which her nephew had degenerated?

    ‘So, if she did not take it, then who did?, I asked myself. I did notice an extra desk in her office on which there was no computer or anything. The table was small, dark brown, glossy from being so dirty and used, and wobbly. There were other chairs around it but the accompanying chair was even more wobbly and its leather well worn in the seat. Also, the carpentry seemed to have weakened so that the chair sagged down and the packing under it gaped. I believe that gaping hole made a perfect initial hiding place for the thief. This meant that whoever took it shared the office with the secretary.

    ‘I did not have time to find out who that person was, that first time. I thought however that if the envelope had not been moved, I would likely find it under that chair when we would come back based on one principle.’

    ‘What principle is that?’

    ‘The principle that says the best place to hide anything is in plain sight. How was I to know that providence had an even better illustration of that dogma for us? Child, is that bottle of wine in the fridge cold yet? Please bring it and let us all ‘wash’ this new source of electricity that the country is forcing me to live with.’

    On the veranda, under the watchful eyes of the stars, we three sat and drank the California wine. When I say drank, I exaggerate. Aunt Deline poured me a generous amount that could not even satiate an ant while the two adults proceeded to get to the bottom of why the electricity situation of the country was so bad. This discourse also led them to the bottom of the bottle; but I was content to listen, as always.

  • Madeline Berah, the African DETECTIVE In The Missing Government Papers (6)

    The inspector leaned back. ‘And what did your observing eye tell you in this matter?’ I thought I detected sarcasm.

    If Aunt Deline heard it too, she ignored it. ‘First, I observed many lapses in the news report. Our journalists are getting lazier and lazier. In my days, the report would have included all the details concerning the matter rather than the hazy sketches we were given. I determined therefore to fill in the gaps myself. I got to the secretariat at half past eight, early enough to find workers on their seats. You know yourself most of them don’t get to their work places on time, especially those higher up.

    ‘The block itself, one of several similar ones, was about five stories tall, once-upon-a-time cream coloured but now somewhere in between rain-washed grey and dust-inspired brown. Did you know that the buildings that make up the secretariat are lined up, one after the other, in a slanting fashion like people slanting sideways to take a photograph?’

    ‘Everyone knows that. Tell me something I don’t know because I have been there myself on this matter,’ replied the inspector testily.

    ‘Well,’ replied Aunt Deline equally testily, ‘if you’re patient, you will eat the fat of the land. When I climbed to the fourth floor, I came out of the staircase and found myself on a balcony looking directly down on the street below. The first office I turned to was quite wide, bare-floored with many spaces where the flooring had given way to the sand used for the construction. Ugh! Come and see sand everywhere! Imagine, in a government building. No standards anymore.

    ‘Anyway, about four tables were placed in the room, not arranged in any particular order, if you don’t count someone’s whim not to face the sun or to back an incoming visitor. The tables were all occupied by some buxom ladies in various stages of weight wear, plying their figures with more food from plastic food flasks. I give you all these details so that you can have an idea of what I observed.

    ‘They all said I should come and eat. I told them no thanks, I did not really like what they were eating. I preferred something lighter.’

    ‘What were they eating?’ I asked.

    ‘Rice, beans and dodo; so early in the morning too. Strangely though, when I asked to be directed to the office of the permanent secretary of the education ministry, they looked at each other before one of them replied. “It’s the last office on the top floor.”

    ‘But I heard them laughing as I went out of earshot. I distinctly heard one of them say: “Did she think we were really asking her to come and eat, when it’s not government food? Some people think everything in the government building is for the general public to eat.” I said nothing to them however.

    ‘When I entered the office I had been directed to, I found the room empty. It was furnished rather sparingly, even though it was a large room. There was a large desk looking directly at the door from the right corner adjacent to a door that obviously opened to another room inside. I decided that that must be the permanent secretary’s office.

    ‘There was a smaller table at the far corner of the room, with several chairs arranged in front and behind it. I took the chair nearest the door, and sat down to wait.

    ‘Five minutes later, a big, dark-complexioned woman came in hurriedly. Running behind the large desk, she quickly removed a large, brown envelop from her bag, pushed it to the back of the top drawer, before she made to stow the bag inside a drawer.

    ‘That was when I spoke. I said ‘Excuse me …

    ‘The way she jumped had me suspecting something. She had not known anyone was in the room with her. Her face looked cross as she looked first at the door before finding the source of the sound. As a matter of fact, the face seemed to be hiding some pain. Her eyes were a slit, even though the entire face and mouth were wide, yet you could see sadness and hopelessness lurking around the eyes that she vainly tried to hide in haughtiness… She looked at me and spoke roughly.

    ‘ “What do you want early this morning?”, she snapped. “Are you here to beg for a contract?”

    ‘I thought this was rather rude but I did not say so.

    ‘No’, I replied instead. ‘I’m here to see the permanent secretary’.

    “For money?” she asked.

    ‘No’, I coolly replied. I decided to try a shocker of my own. ‘I woke up this morning and found I had no husband, so I’ve come to see if he will fit into the role.’

    ‘Auntie!’, I exclaimed. She was not contrite. ‘It’s true; you have to really give Nigerians what they deserve before you can get anything out of them.’

    ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘the woman relaxed a bit before saying “He’s not here yet, he’s attending a meeting this morning at the government house.”

    ‘When can I meet with him then?’, I asked her. “Maybe you can come back in the afternoon. Maybe he would have come back by then” she replied.

    ‘When I got up to leave, I said to her: ‘Maybe I don’t want to see your boss yet. Maybe by afternoon, I will feel like it. In the meantime, when he wakes up and calls you in, tell him that Dr. Berah was here to see him and will return at two o’clock. By the way, I told her, you also need to get some sleep.

    ‘As I went out of the door, I had the satisfaction of seeing her wide mouth open wider. As I left, I heard the bell ring from inside the room and I saw her jump again before she went in.’

    The inspector was impatient. I was too. ‘So, where are the papers?’

    ‘There, in the office. I intend to go back first thing in the morning to retrieve them.’

    ‘Oh yes, the one the secretary was holding. I’m coming with you,’ the inspector declared.

    ‘So am I,’ I said.

    ‘Suit yourselves, although I’m not sure it’s that envelope exactly. But we can find out tomorrow’, Aunt Deline said. Then she leaned back in her chair and began to talk about other things.

    Next morning, which was a Friday, we were shown into the office of the permanent secretary by his secretary. Aunt Deline was right; the woman’s face was a little long and the mouth was firmly shut. Her eyes looked sad and it was clear that she was harbouring some pain.

    It was also clear that the man himself had had a rough night. Much as his office was comfortable, I didn’t think it had been designed for sleeping in. The couch looked big all right, black, fully upholstered, leather-clothed and all (false leather yes, but comfortable). Judging by his uncombed hair, half-closed eyes, tightly held lips, it was obvious the rough night was spent on the couch. I could swear his print was still visible on it.

    He welcomed us solemnly and shook hands with the inspector languidly. We took our seats on the same couch. He paid us a distracted attention, constantly flipping over papers on his desk, obviously still searching for his papers. But Aunt Deline jolted him into paying us full attention.

    ‘We have come about the missing papers.’

    You could almost hear him snap to. I really pitied him. ‘Do you know where they are?’, he asked suddenly and quietly.

    ‘I do, but first, you have to tell us the whole story.’

  • NB earmarks N100b for commercial paper project

    Nigerian Breweries Plc has signed a deal to establish a N100 billion Commercial Paper (CP) Programme to execute the company’s financing strategy, in an increasingly competitive market environment.

    During the signing at the firm’s head office, Iganmu, Lagos, the brewer said the programme, believed to be the largest established by a (non-financial institution), is expected to complement NB’s other sources of working capital, while diversifying its funding sources to include non-bank investors.

    The event was witnessed by representatives of the transaction advisors from Stanbic IBTC Capital Limited, FBN Capital Limited, Banwo & Ighodalo as Legal Counsel, KPMG as Auditors to the Issuer (for the relevant financial years under review), and Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC as Issuing Calculation and Paying Agent as well as officials of the FMDQ OTC Exchange.

    On the launch billed for on or before  October 8, the Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde,  said: “This transaction underscores our continued commitment to winning with Nigeria and represents the largest ever Commercial Paper programme to be established by a (non-financial institution) corporate issuer following the 2009 guidelines on commercial paper from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    “In that regard, this effort clearly demonstrates our leadership status in the industry and an innovative approach towards executing our company’s financing strategy in an increasingly competitive market environment,” he said.

    Also, the Finance Director of NB, Mr. Mark Rutten, said: “This programme is expected to complement our Company’s other sources of working capital, whilst diversifying our funding sources to include non-bank investors.

    “Additionally, this programme will improve our ability to periodically access funding at rates mirroring money market and Treasury Bill yields, would provide Nigerian Breweries with additional tools to help manage and optimise its overall funding cost.”

    NB has been assigned a top notch investment grade rating of “Aa” by Agusto & Co. Limited.

    As highlighted by Agusto & Co, the rating assigned is representative of a company that possesses very strong financial condition and very strong capacity to meet its obligations as and when due, which clearly speaks to the corporate credentials and financial pedigree of Nigerian Breweries.

  • Nigeria’s paper imports

    •It’s high time the Federal Government reversed the trend to save forex

    There can be no better testimonial of the Federal Government’s bungling of the privatisation of its three paper manufacturing companies than the recent report that Nigeria currently spends an annual N500 billion to import paper products. Several years after the privatisation of the companies, it is easily a story of grand betrayal in terms of the expectations of swift turnaround and the grand dream of backward integration said to have supplied rationale to the much hyped process of sale.

    With none of the three specialised paper mills anywhere near the dreams as conceived by their founding fathers, not only is the nation served the short end of the stick as far as the expectations of performance go, nearly everything that could go wrong appears to have gone terribly wrong.

    We start with the oldest of them all – the Nigerian Paper Mill, Jebba, which opened shop in 1969 with an initial production capacity of 12,000 tonnes of apex per annum. Aside its best years of 1985 when it rolled out 40,480 metric tonnes of paper, representing 62.3% of its installed capacity, and 1986 when it took this up to 42,960 tonnes – representing 66.17% capacity utilisation, its story has been one of steady decline until 1996 when it finally shut its gates after output plumbed to 2.5 percent.

    Sold to MINL Ltd, an Indian company in June 2006, if we expected the company to take it to a new level, it has confined it to the level of waste paper recycling – a far cry from its initial dream as an integrated paper manufacturing entity drawing strength from backward integration. If the company ever intends to explore the use of primary fibre derived locally in its backward integration drive; that remains to be seen.

    But then, the story of Iwopin Pulp and Paper Company Limited, Iwopin, Ogun State, established in 1976 is even more tragic.  The company, designed to produce 68,000 metric tonnes of various grades of finished fine writing, printing and cultural papers, was planned to produce fully bleached pulp. Up till the time it was shut down in 1998, the mill never produced up to five percent of its installed capacity. This was despite attaining 85% completion.

    First, it was sold to an indigenous company – Noxieme Technologies Ltd – in December 2006; only last year, there were reports that the company has found a new core investor – Beulah Technical Company Limited. Yet, till date, there has been no tangible activity at the sprawling complex.

    The Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Oku Iboku, is no different. The mill, with an installed capacity of 100,000 metric tonnes of newsprint per annum took off with a promise to save the nation billions of naira spent to import newsprint – the main raw material used in the newspaper industry. After turning out 28,927 metric tonnes in 1989 and 37,581 tonnes the following year, the company would suffer precipitous decline in the 90s due to scarcity of funds to refurbish the equipment and purchase raw materials. In the end, it was sold to Negris Limited. It has been in coma since.

    Presently, the newspaper industry relies almost exclusively on imported newsprint at great costs to the foreign exchange reserves.

    After investing so much in the entities, Nigeria obviously deserves more than the companies would seem in any position to offer. A good way to start is for the Federal Government to find out what went wrong. How come none of the companies has been able to affect the fortunes of the entities in any fundamental way? Were there no timelines, no performance clauses in the sales agreements? For how long will the country continue to depend on India and other Asian countries for its paper needs? There ought to be something that the Federal Government can do to redress the unacceptable situation. And the time to act is now.