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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Electoral Materials to be Printed Locally



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Prof. Attahiru Jega

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said yesterday that all security printing works including bank cheques, election materials and official documents will be printed locally in no distant time so as to help the local content programme of the Federal Government and  create job opportunities for Nigerians.

CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said at the commissioning of Superflux International Limited Ultra-Modern Factory Lagos that, the apex bank wanted to encourage other local printers particularly those currently upgrading their facilities and processes to fast-track their action, so that security works could be printed locally in no-distant future.

The Superflux  International Factory, he emphasised, was a direct  beneficiary of the CBN/Bank of Industry (BOI) intervention and also “a gallant response to capacity building in this highly technical security printing venture.”

Sanusi  recalled that the apex bank had  after the 2006 accreditation exercise directed  foreign- based accredited printers to establish their presence in the country within two years,

He added that the deadline was “deliberately extended” to give foreign-based  printers ample time to establish their presence in the country as well as afford  local based printers the opportunity to expand their existing production.

He therefore advised the foreign-based accredited printers to use the last opportunity of accreditation to establish their verifiable facilities in order to scale through future accreditation.

Sanusi who enthused that “the first response to this call is from an institution wholly owned by Nigerians” said, “this bold step should  encourage other actors in the sector to take up  the challenges and establish  their local presence.”

“The time has come for our entrepreneurs to fill the huge gap in the local production of secure and sensitive instruments. For example, Nigeria has a huge market for plastic cards which our enterprises should venture into,” he noted.

The governor confirmed that Superflux has over 250 full-time employees, which “typifies a medium scale manufacturing concern  and a model for institutions that government policies should target to ensure their sustenance  and transformation into big institutions.”

Sanusi said the CBN was embarking on a shared services programme amongst the banks, which will, go a long way in reducing the cost  of doing  banking business and contribute positively to the downward review of the lending rates for  the real sector of the economy.

“In a way, the Supeflux Group is leading the initiative for shred services through the provision of various centralised services  such as production and distribution of monthly statement of accounts for bank customers, total outsourcing of cheque production and cheques personalisation services to banks, amongst others,” he noted.

Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Ms Evelyn Oputu advised the nation’s commercial banks to finance more of companies like Superflux  than  traders and importers that will not contribute to the real gross domestic product (GDP).

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