A business magnate in
the printing industry, Emmanuel Adeoye, has lamented the lack of patronage of local printers by multinationals, Federal Government Ministries and agencies and state governments.
Adeoye, Chief Executive officer of Print Express, a Port Harcourt-based digital printing outfit, expressed his displeasure in a chat with The Tide at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Wednesday, shortly after his arrival from attending the Fourth Digital Print solution Exhibition in Abuja.
He lamented that rather than patronise indigenous printing firms, “these multinationals and governments ministries, and agencies, including state government, prefer to do their printing abroad, thereby helping to stifle the industry in Nigeria”.
He observed that given the quality of products brought in from abroad, Nigerian printers are not doing badly.
According to him, “if you look at the jobs they bring in, like calenders, diaries, customized folders, they are not exactly better than what we do here”.
He added that the printing industry in the country was capable of creating thousands of jobs across the country.
He, however, noted that inadequate power supply was a major challenge they were grappling with in the industry, saying, “most of us have to be on independent power for as long as 18 hours per day and that eats deep into our profit. If we must stay in business then our fees have to be brought down to the minimum profit.”
He commended organizers of the Exhibition, Skysat Technologies which collaborated with Konica Minolta and Duplo to hold the exhibition and prayed that government would live up to its responsibilities by providing enabling environment for indigenous business to thrive.
He used the opportunity to call on government to patronise indigenous printers, saying, “our business has the potential to revive the economy as it is a multi-billion naira industry”.

Tonye Nria-Dappa