PPAPPPAPSSAN Urges FG to Reconsider Policy on Privatisation of Three Paper Mills

Ugo Aliogo
The President, Pulp Paper and Paper products Printing and Publishing Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PPAPPPAPSSAN), Comrade Dada Joseph, has called on the federal government to reconsider its policy on privatisation of the three major primary paper mills by constituting a committee of the major stakeholders including the unions in the industry to work out the strategies to revive the moribund mills with a view of improving the economy of the country.

Joseph, who disclosed this in Lagos at the 9th Triennial National Delegates Conference of the Association with the theme: “Challenges and Prospects of Paper, Printing and Publishing Industry in Nigeria, Which Way Forward,” said government urgent intervention in the paper industry at this time is vital and appealed for the provision of an enabling environment for the sector to thrive by providing the necessary infrastructures such as power supply, access road and subsidies.

He advised the federal government to liaise with the stakeholders in the industry especially the Paper and Paper Board Manufacturers and Converters Association (PPMCA) to seek for ways the sector can be assisted either by way of the financial bailout through grants or loans on a single-digit interest rate.

The PPAPPPAPSSAN boss further explained that there is need for the federal government to prevail on the States and Local Governments where the paper companies reside to grant them some level of tax reliefs.

He added that tax relief is inevitable at this critical time given the fact that the paper companies are the primary source of reducing unemployment problems in the country especially in where they reside.
Joseph advised the Federal, State and Local Governments to adopt and implement the Presidential Executive Order no 5 directing that anything that can be produced locally should not be contracted abroad.

According to him, “In the light of the Executive Oder no 5 I call on both the Federal and State Governments especially the State Governments to as a matter of urgency revive the government press in their States and stop contracting out printing jobs to the outsiders thereby exposing the confidential documents of both the states and the federal government. I call on the federal government to let the sector or the companies have an easy access to forex as the rate of foreign exchange is very critical and crucial to the companies.

“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Ministry of Labour through the Registrar of Trade Unions to occasionally mediate on unresolved issues confronting the Unions by calling for either a conference or a meeting of the Unions in order to curb the incessant labour crisis in the country and to minimise inter/intra Union disputes. I call employers in all Paper, Printing and Publishing industries in both public and private sectors of the economy to respect and apply labour laws and Court Judgement especially in respect of the National Industrial Court Judgement on the jurisdictional scope of this Association on Monday 11, May 2020.”