‘Paper industry, a goldmine for investors’

The paper industry in Nigeria has been described as a goldmine waiting for intelligent investors to explore.

Chairperson of the Printing and Publishing Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Princess Layo Okeowo, at a webinar said despite the potential of the paper industry, it has been neglected by successive administrations.

The poor performance of the paper mills, according to her, could be attributed, in part, to insufficient supplies of long fibre pulp.

The event themed ‘Revitalizing the Paper Industry: Challenges and Opportunities in South-West Nigeria’, according to Okeowo, was aimed at facilitating conversations and exchanging perspectives on strategic, actionable and effective measures that would significantly help to revive the paper industry from its current state of comatose.

She said research shows that tree species needed for manufacturing woodfree bond paper can be grown in Nigeria with a gestation period of six months and not 12 years or more as hitherto believed.

“This means that paper production in Nigeria is doable and we only need to share the knowledge across the board.

“Investigation has shown that $10 million (N4 billion) worth of machinery can produce 100 tonnes of paper per day while $50m (N20bn) worth of machinery can produce 500 tonnes of paper per day which could be a good start to the bigger journey ahead.

“The paper industry in Nigeria is a goldmine waiting for intelligent investors to explore,” she stressed.