Senate Orders Probe Into Paper Mills Privatisation

The Nigerian Senate has ordered a probe into the privatization of paper mills in the country. The privatised paper mills have been moribund and the country has been importing newsprint and others from abroad.

The country had privatised state- owned paper mills, including  the Nigerian Paper Mills (NPM), Kwara State; Nigeria News Print Manufacturing Company (NNMC), Akwa Ibom State and the Nigerian National Paper Manufacturing Company (NNPMC) Ogun State, due to lack of funds  to manage them, as well as non- performance.

But the companies have not been able to live  up to agreements reached with the Federal Government.

“We need to investigate how those investors who took over our paper mills have complied with the share purchase agreement they signed while taking over the  mills. My understanding is that the paper mills have been privatized and we cannot ask the government to establish new mills,” the Senate President, Ahmed Lawal,  said on Tuesday during plenary.

He gave the directive while reacting to a motion titled the, “Need to revive the Moribund Paper Mills in Nigeria,” which was sponsored by Senator Ekpeyong C. Stephen, who represents Akwa Ibom North West, ( PDP).

Senator Sadiq Umar, representing Kwara North (APC), while reacting said  the non- performance of the paper mills, had contributed to the rising unemployment and poverty levels, as people hitherto engaged by the mills no longer have jobs.

Meanwhile the Senator representing Niger East, Sani Musa (APC), said Nigeria was one of the highest importers of paper.

According to him,  over 2 million metric tonnes of paper are in demand in the country, adding that the country spends a huge chunk of its revenue on importation of papers that should have been produced locally.

The Senate however resolved that the Senate Committee on Privatisation would investigate the activities and operations of the mills and report back to the house.

The Senate further charged the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) and Nigeria Customs Service to review the duty  on importation of published books and importation of paper as raw materials into the country and make it favourable to print locally in Nigeria.