The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) recently commenced the nationwide enumeration and registration exercise in the bid to eradicate nonprofessional printers from the Nigeria printing sector and also to have statistics practitioners in the sector for the growth and development of the institute.
Recently, CIPPON enumeration team was at the printing hub in Ogba Lagos State. It was gathered that the nationwide registration started in Abuja which is now moved to Lagos as the commercial city of the country, the registration movement was slated for each printing hub in Lagos per day and the city has the widest and biggest printing hub in Nigeria (Shomolu).
According to one of our respondents during the interview session with practitioners at the enumeration sites, he said that earlier before the registration program commenced, outdoor publicity was executed all around Ogba printing hub, from Yaya Abatan bus stop to Ogba junction creating awareness about the ongoing printer’s registration at Ogba junction in other to make the registration process easier.
Our correspondence was able to meet and interview some professional printers at the event. The Vice Chairman of the Association of Printing Practitioners of Nigeria, Mr. Prince Igwe, said: “CIPPON registration is a federal thing and not under state operation and government, so we are moving to the federal level now, no one can tell where you can be called to come and negotiate for work, having a CIPPON certificate of membership is going to be another advantage of getting the job. At times I asked myself what is the essence of me being a printer after I have suffered many years going to school, graduated, and later end up as a printer and to the fact that printer is now an all-comers profession that novice can just enter the business without any form of restriction and that’s why I don’t respond to people coming to my shop to find out how to do this and that instead of referring the customers to the professional printers, so it’s seriously affecting us today. For instance; if you’re not a licensed pharmacist you can’t open a shop and if you do they’ll seal it up. If the CIPPON can take that measure and have professional printers at least I will be proud of being a printer and anyone that want to work will be directed to the core professionals”. I have not really observed the new CIPPON executives but the little we have seen and heard recently; I can say they are bringing change to the industry and they’re doing better than the previous executives”. Igwe said
