On the 22nd of November 2018, the CHANGE GROUP hosted its Press Conference to officially announce the 1st NIGERIAN NATIONAL PRINTERS CONFERENCE (ngprint) that is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 27th of November 2018 at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.
The event manager, Pastor Tunde Obokhai stated that the Printers Conference is powered by THE CHANGE GROUP in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment. The conference which is scheduled to hold from 9am to 5pm. It’s broken into 3 main sessions. The 1st Session will have in attendance, the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Nigeria’s Minister, Industry, Trade and Investment and other major stake holders in the industry.
The 1st session will be chaired by Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija – Vice Chairman, Digital Reality Prints Ltd. Presentations will be made by Industry giants, Alhaji Yahaya Amfani – Chairman, Yalim Group of Companies and Professor J.E.O Abugu of the University of Lagos. The 2nd and 3rd sessions will be a panel of discussion on the issues surrounding the Industry. The Panelists include but not limited to Dr. Adeshola Adepoju – Director General of Forestry Research Institutes of Nigeria; Prof. (Mrs.)Gloria Elemo – Director General of Federal Institutes if Industrial Research; Princess Layo Okeowo – MAN Chairman, Pulp, Paper & Paper Products; Mr. Tokunbo Talabi – The Chairman of Superflux International Limited and Mr. Jakob Bejer – Chairman, Heidelberg Nigeria Limited.
Pertinent issues that will be raised during the 1-day event include: Revamping the Pulp and Paper Production and creating employment in Nigeria; Forging a Synergy between the Procurement Act,the Electoral
Act and the Executive Order 5 for Capacity Development in the printing Industry; policies that will favor the local printers and ensure that Nigerian jobs remain in Nigeria; how the industry can meet international standard with the help of the government; printing government materials, election papers and exam materials locally; power issues as it relates to the industry; government/custom tariffs.
Mr. Gokay Oludare, one of the members of the central working committee for the conference highlighted that the conference is aimed at bringing all the printing categories together and to encourage the man who is seemingly at the bottom to get to the next level. It’s also to increase the capacities of Nigerian printers and to bring about unity in pricing. He stated that there’ll be an opportunity for the printers to sit together, discuss and find solutions to the common challenges facing the industry. He enjoined printers to come together as a group, present the issues facing the printers to the government and ask they put necessary policies together to benefit the print Industry.
The Change Group is a group of young people who know that things can be better than it is in the Nigeria Print Industry and would not allow the boat of the industry to sink. They believe that the print quality can match with the quality in other part of the world under the right leadership, opportunity and vision.