The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) has requested the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to make public, the names of the eight group of printers that would be executing the 2.9Billion Naira contract for the printing of sensitive and non-sensitive examination materials as approved by the Federal Executive Council recently.
This information was made known to the media in an official press release signed by the President and Chairman-in-Council of the institute, Mr. Olugbemi Malomo.
According to him, The Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria (CIPPON) was established with Act 24 of 2007 and charged with the duty of Regulating, Controlling, and Managing the Administration of Printers in Nigeria.
Commending the federal government over the development, the CIPPON president said: ” The approval couldn’t have come at any better time than now that a lot of our capacity in the printing industry are laying fallow due to the effect of Covid 19 and the fact that every year over One Trillion Naira is taken out of the printing and graphics communication industry to develop capacity of other countries through the execution of government jobs in those countries”.
“In other to ensure that the awarded contract will be executed in Nigeria, also in the spirit of transparency and good governance which the present government of His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari is known for, we have made a request to the Bureau of Public Procurement asking for the names of the Eight (8) companies that the contract was awarded to in order to ascertain if they are registered members of the Chartered Institute of Professional Printers of Nigeria as stipulated in the printers Act 24 of 2007, section 23 (b). Malomo said
According to him, “The contract is also in tandem with our 32 pages post Covid 19 priority for the printing industry request that :
- Nigerian printing jobs remain in Nigeria. (In line with Executive order No 5)
- Printing jobs for institute registered printers only. (In line with the provision of printers Act 24 of 2007)
Copies of the document have been sent to all Ministry, Departments and Agencies (MDAs,) that are involved in government printing procurement, we also believe that our listening government is working hard to correct the mistakes of the past. Which in our opinion is another good step in the right direction.
Our believe is If our Two top priorities are adhered to, the printing industry would have enough jobs to do, which in turn is capable of reducing unemployment and insecurity”. He stated
Furthermore, he urged the government to INTENTIONALLY use her enormous resources to develop local capacity like was done by the founding father of this Nation.
“One glaring example was the Festival Of Arts And Culture (FESTAC) hosted in 1977, where government used her resources to birth the city known as FESTAC Town today. Imagine if the government decided to “Rent” houses for the festival participants we will not have the city known as FESTAC which has solved housing problems for very many families today. Taking Nigerian printing jobs outside Nigeria in whatever guise is like “Renting houses from “foreigners” when the roofs of our houses are leaking” . Malomo said
