THE nation may have been bolstering the fortunes of foreign printers by over $10 billion (N1.5 trillion) yearly, going by the assessment of local operators, who claimed to have been largely sidelined in terms of patronage, by various organisations in both public and private sectors of the economy.

Besides, the institute canvassed the resuscitation of moribund paper mills, to further promote local content policy initiative.

Indeed, the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) said the capital flight may persist until the Federal Government halts patronage of the foreign printers.

In an exclusive chat with The Guardian, CIPPON President, Alhaji Wahab Muhammed Lawal also urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that it adopts the policy that would make it mandatory for security documents to be printed in the country.

“Government should stop patronising foreign printers. It should rather increase the duty on imported printing materials and make the duty on papers to be free, so that investors will be encouraged and the nation will save a lot of foreign exchange.

. A lot is being lost from taking printing jobs outside the country and it is not that they can do better than what we are doing here,” he said.

He emphasised the need for the government to revive the nation’s paper mills to provide raw materials for the printing industry.

I know the market is big but didn't know it was this big. The Nigerian market for printers is already saturated. If the documents printed out are brought to them, how will they cope. There is hardly a press in Lagos that does not work 24hrs a day, they are usually booked 6 months in advance.

All the same I really do think the leakage is too much.