12th August, 2014
Olugbenga Ladipo, Managing Director, Academy Press, in a chat with Femi Ayodele, talks about the ordeal of indigenous printers and how the industry fares
Compared to other developing countries, how is print business faring in Nigeria?
The print industry in Nigeria has not been lucky. Even now, a lot of printing jobs still go abroad and most local printers are still short of adequate capacity due to lack of support from the society, while the state of the economy has not been helpful. If you have a local industry that abounds with so many prospects like the print industry, the best way you can grow such an industry is to patronise it, allow it improve and grow it to your desired level. But what happens here is they look elsewhere perhaps for quality. And that is why experts in the industry are not too impressed that there are few printing presses of our standard in the country. If the operating environment is right, printers will be encouraged do better.
The advent of computer technology and modern equipment has greatly influenced the printing processes. How do you manage this?
The development of Information/computer Technology is a good one. But that still depends on the state of the industry. It has also helped to reshape the industry, because it is a form of economic advancement and we can’t just condemn it. We look at other aspects of the trade that has not been maximized or affected by this change. Some product lines, no matter how, cannot be eradicated. We recognise them, take over and play on them. For instance, you now have e-books; that can be assessed via I-pads, tablets, phones, laptop and users embracing other forms of electronic products. But there are still some percentage that still prefer to get the hard or paper copies and we do all we can to keep them at our tip because we still believe that those product lines will keep existing for quite a while. And we are happy to stay in business for that.
Job flight has been a major form of headache for local printers. How is your company coping?
Well, that factor is not peculiar to us; it generally affects print business in the country. And what we do here in terms of the job, products and personnel is, we engage our personnel in training and produce products that can be compared to any product around the world. That neutralises the temptation to look for products abroad.
How do you view the government policy that imposes zero per cent on content job back to Nigeria and tariff on imported jobs?
We do carry out campaign against it as much as we can with due presentations. We’ve petitioned all the relevant government agencies. We kicked against it and even wrote to the Minister for Trade and Investment and the Central Bank Governor because the bank also contract jobs to foreigners. This is not the way to go if they want the local industry to grow and create more employment. We view this as not creating a level playing field for all the players. Competition is not even the issue whether locally or abroad but we frown against a situation where you have a policy that favours foreign importation against the interest of local printers. If they need to impose zero duty it should be on the materials we use in producing. We have done several media campaigns on this for the appropriate authority to know the implication. Other professional bodies like the Printers’ Association, among others are also involved in the struggle. The idea is for the appropriate authorities to see the benefits and do their statutory function without being prompted. It doesn’t make sense fuelling the growth of another country’s economy.
Can local printers compete with their foreign counterparts?
Definitely. We don’t necessarily need to blow our trumpet but the fact is indigenous printers can favourably compete with their foreign counterparts. What you need is the right equipment, materials and personnel. Having these in place, you can even produce better products. And that is what we do here. If a printing machine is manufactured today, within a year or two you find it here. There is no disparity between what is produced here and what is produced abroad or internationally. It’s a small world.
How lucrative is printing and what will be the fate of the industry in years to come?
Of course printing business is profitable. It’s is a life-long business. As long as we need to educate and appreciate the importance of education, printing will continue to exist. Print products are being used in running our daily activities. As long as we exist, printing will still be in vogue. There is no way printing will cease to exist except if human existence is truncated.