How government can collaborate with the print industry for economic development

A few years ago, the word on the street was: Print is Dead! All forecasters could see with the improvements in mobile technology, increasing broadband Internet and e-commerce trends was that print was practically going to be replaced by digital technology.  So many years later, we can authoritatively declare that this is not the case! Definitely change has happened, some of the traditional formats and media have been replaced with new ones, however these changes have led to a new vista of opportunities. 

Even the traditional areas such as books that were predicted to be the first to disappear when compared to E-readers have seen resurgence as the culture has shifted back in favour of paperbacks.  This is however not the key subject of this discourse. As the first Nigerian National Printers conference holds in the Federal Capital Territory on the 27th of November 2018, this article seeks to highlight areas that the print and graphic communication industry on one hand, and government on the other must focus on in order to create a desired win- win for both parties;which are a vibrant print and graphic communications sector and a creation of much needed jobs in line with the Economic Recovery Growth programme of the Federal Government respectively.

Print is part of everyday life. All that needs to be done is to go into the nearest store to buy any item.  You identify the cereal, detergent or just about anything you want to buy by the packaging of the item. Printproducts in the same way holds sway in education sector since they are the fundamental tools that are used to pass on knowledge. You can carry this argument practically through virtually every sphere of life; pharmaceuticals, postage and courier services, signage just to mention a few.  The Print and graphics communications sector can therefore be said to be an important partner to every other sector, service or industrial. Smithers Pira estimates the global print sector to top USD980 Billion in 2018.  The potential therefore in this sector is tremendous and Government can only ignore this sector at its detriment.

We would be highlighting three areas of focus each respectively for the printing industry on the one hand and government on the other.

Firstly the industry must have lobby groups like the Political Action Committee (PrintPAC) of the Printing Industries of America whose role is impacting public policy direction and debate pertaining to issues affecting printing and graphic communications companies. This advocacy unit will ensure that resources are dedicated to building and maintaining solid relationships with and  continually educating government about the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

Secondly the industry must encourage longer-term contracts (where this applies) with their corresponding service level agreements between industry players and clientele including government. What currently is prevalent is that most print concerns cannot guarantee if they would get the next order from an organization. This does not allow planning, encourage further investment or engender the economies of scale that would allow the jobs be delivered more efficiently and concomitantly cheaper.

Thirdly the industry must collaborate with the requisite organizations and bodies in the area of print education and print leadership to improve the quality of the print entrepreneur and human capital in the industry. This collaboration must also focus on the next generation in order to create the required interest and inflow of human capital into the industry.

Government on its part must do the following:

Focus on the industry in the same way it’s focusing on sectors like Agriculture.

The investment required to get some of the constituent sectors of the industry back off the ground are humongous. A large-scale chemical pulp (paper) mill with an annual pulp production of around 1.4 million tons has an investment cost of about 2.5 billion USD if built from the ground up.  (iea.org). Government can partner with the private sector by creating an enabling environment for investment in paper mills of various capacities.  (Nigeria imported 1.2M tonnes of various paper and paper products last year).  The print sector must be included in the Federal Government plans for its Strategic Economic zones and free trade zones.

As part of its focus on Education, Government must work with the industry to improve the quality which students are being educated on printing and graphics communications in its universities, colleges of technology and vocational schools.

Thirdly Government policies must be streamlined to ensure that its industry can take advantage and leverage on international treaties to which it’s a part of rather than suffer from it. A case in point is the UNESCO Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural interests (Florence Agreement), of which Nigeria is a party to. This treaty despite its good intentions, allows a lot of books to be imported into Nigeria duty free and VAT free whilst on the other hand local printers have to import all the raw materials for book production at duties ranging from 5-30% creating a clear disadvantage.

In concluding, these are just a few of the specific areas that Government must focus on in order to promote the growth of the Nigerian print industry. Other areas, which affect development not just of the sector but the economy, in general are provision of infrastructure especially stable power supply, revamping of the entire judicial process such that the process for redress and resolution of contract breaches or remedy for theft of intellectual property are not an unending process. A recent sad but growing trend that pertains to the industry is the vagrant illegal distribution of books over social media. It seems it takes less than seventy-two hours after the launch of any book of national interest to be available on social media platforms such as in the case of Segun Adeniyi’s Against the Run of Play and Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent book: My Transition Hours. This cannot be good for the future of the industry.

Oluwalana is an entrepreneur in the print Industry and writes from Lagos.