The governing council of the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria, CIPPON, recently held an inaugural Consultative Meeting with Major Stakeholders in the Northern part of Nigeria to discuss pressing issues bothering the growth and development of the Nigerian Printing Industry at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
At the meeting, the Chairman in Council, Mr. Olugbemi Malomo in his address reiterated the experiences, challenges, progress, and prospects of the Institute and governing council since its election in 2019 and presented a strategic framework and emphasized that the cooperation and buy-in of the stakeholders are needed for the leadership of the Institute to achieve the set goals.
Stakeholders at the meeting pledged their support and advised that effort and focus should be on the short-term goals. These were major print stakeholders in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Katsina, Bauchi, Kaduna, and other states in the North who were in attendance to deliberate on the way forward for the institute.
Contributions and conclusions from the meeting have it that the government assistance is needed to access Forex to enable printers to import paper on their own like it was done in the past; That CIPPON should create more awareness and sensitization campaigns across the nation and especially in the North as many printers are not aware of the existence of the Institute; Suggestions were made to create zonal or state chapters for printers all over Nigeria; The council was urged to adopt strict enforcement measures to curb the activities of quacks, pirates, counterfeiters, and all unregistered printers.
Furthermore, the Council was advised to look more into education and training – A curriculum and standard training courses should be inculcated and a standard template of requirements at the entry point for people seeking membership of the institute should be adopted; Improvement in government relationship was emphasized.
In addition, the council was urged to allow the Niger State High court injunction that stopped the Abeokuta election and Annual General Meeting, to run its full course in order to serve as a deterrent to would-be agents of destabilization, thereby building a virile and formidable Institute
As a second step to establishing the Consultative Forum, it was agreed that a WhatsApp group be created for stakeholders in attendance. The Chairman and members of the council were commended for their tenacity and fortitude despite all the challenges.
