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Factories struggle as imports flood market
By Chinenye Anuforo
For decades, the country’s paper industry stood as a symbol of industrial promise. From the Nigerian Paper Mill in Jebba, Kwara State, to the Iwopin Pulp and Paper Company in Ogun State and the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company in Oku Iboku, Akwa Ibom State, the country once produced substantial volumes of paper locally, supplying schools, publishers and industries while reducing pressure on foreign exchange.
Today, that story has changed dramatically. Nigeria now imports more than 90 percent of its paper needs, including textbooks, exercise books, publishing paper and educational materials, despite growing local manufacturing capacity. The consequences have been severe loss of jobs, massive capital flight, rising costs for education and printing, and the gradual weakening of domestic industries.
Against this backdrop, the Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh, recently visited two paper manufacturing companies in Ogun State: Specialty Paper Limited and Nixin Paper Mill Nigeria Limited in what industry stakeholders see as one of the clearest indications yet that the Federal Government may finally be paying attention to the sector.
The visit focused on pathways to strengthening local manufacturing industries and government support in sustaining domestic production without compromising affordability and market access.
But beyond the factory tours and policy discussions lies a deeper national crisis: Nigeria is losing huge economic value yearly because of its dependence on imported paper and the growing influx of dumped foreign products.
Recent industry data paints a troubling picture. Nigeria’s paper import bill rose from ₦328.9 billion in 2021 to about ₦1.11 trillion in 2025, with cumulative imports estimated at over ₦3.37 trillion within five years. Industry analysts estimate that the country loses roughly ₦674 billion annually to foreign paper producers due to the collapse and underperformance of local mills.
At the same time, exports remain negligible. The sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product has reportedly dropped to around 0.14 percent, while more than 300,000 jobs linked to the paper value chain have either disappeared or failed to materialise.
For a country aggressively seeking foreign exchange stability and industrial growth, the numbers are alarming.
Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest consumers of paper, with demand estimated at over three million metric tonnes annually. This means billions of naira leave the country every year to support industries and workers in China, India, Indonesia and other exporting nations while Nigerian factories battle for survival.
At the centre of the recent Ogun State visit was Nixin Paper Mill Nigeria Limited, one of the few companies attempting to revive local production of cultural paper also known as white paper, publishing paper and writing paper.
Speaking during the minister’s visit, the company’s Managing Director, Eric Wang, disclosed that the company invested about $80 million into the project after discovering that Nigeria had depended almost entirely on imported white paper for over four decades.
“We know there is another type of paper known as cultural paper, which Nigeria has been importing for many years because there was no local manufacturer. About 40 or 50 years ago, Nigeria used to produce this type of paper locally, but production stopped,” Wang said.
According to him, production commenced in 2024 after the investment was made in 2023, helping Nigeria gradually reduce dependence on imported educational paper products.
“Today, Nigerian students can use exercise books and educational materials produced with locally manufactured paper made in Nigeria,” he stated.
The company says Nigeria’s annual demand for printing, publishing and writing paper is about 100,000 metric tonnes — a figure local manufacturers can already satisfy.
“We can fully satisfy Nigeria’s demand for printing and publishing paper and even produce beyond current market demand,” Wang said.
Yet despite the investment and available capacity, the company says it is struggling to survive.
One of the strongest concerns raised during the minister’s visit was the continued influx of cheap imported paper into the Nigerian market.
According to Wang, foreign manufacturers and importers are deliberately flooding the market with low-cost and sometimes substandard paper products to retain market dominance after local companies began production.
The effect has been devastating.
Nixin disclosed that it recently shut down production for one month because it accumulated over 10,000 tonnes of unsold stock.
“The major challenge is that importers still dominate the market after decades of dependence on foreign paper. They are very strong and are resisting local competition,” Wang said.
He alleged that some imported paper products are sold below local production costs, even when the quality is inferior.
“Some imported paper is sold cheaper than our local production cost, even when the quality is lower. They bring in recycled and poor-quality paper just to maintain their hold on the market,” he explained.
Industry stakeholders described the situation as a classic case of dumping, where foreign products are sold at artificially low prices to weaken or eliminate local competition. Experts warned that if unchecked, the practice could discourage local investment, shut down emerging factories and worsen Nigeria’s dependence on imports.
Recent reports showed that Nigeria’s paper industry potential could exceed $5 billion annually if supported with the right policies, but cheap imports continue to cripple local capacity.
The impact extends far beyond paper. When local manufacturers shut down or reduce production, Nigeria loses jobs across agriculture, transportation, logistics, printing and retail.
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According to Wang, Nixin alone supports thousands of livelihoods through its supply chain.
The company sources more than 150 truckloads of cassava daily from farmers in Oyo State to produce cassava starch used in paper manufacturing.
“This business supports farmers, transporters, truck drivers, timber contractors and many others. Through this value chain, we are supporting more than 10,000 Nigerians,” he said.
But the survival of such businesses is becoming increasingly difficult.
Manufacturers complained that while imported educational materials often enter Nigeria duty-free, local producers still pay duties on chemicals, machinery and raw materials required for production.
The contradiction, according to operators, creates an uneven playing field that punishes local investment.
“It is something we must reconcile,” Minister Enoh admitted during the visit.
“What we currently have appears to encourage importation while discouraging local production and processing, and that is not the direction we want to go.”
The minister also expressed concern that nearly 90 percent of textbooks sold in Nigeria are still printed abroad despite the existence of local printing presses and paper manufacturers.
“For things as basic as printing paper, we still depend heavily on importation. Almost every textbook sold in this country is printed abroad, not because we do not have facilities here, but because local producers are struggling with competitiveness,” he said.
The minister also directed the companies to submit a joint memorandum outlining the challenges confronting the sector so government can begin targeted interventions.
During the visit to Specialty Paper Limited, the company’s management highlighted the role of local manufacturers in supporting industrial sustainability, environmental protection, and employment generation in Nigeria.
In a welcome address presented to the minister, the company described itself as one of the emerging players in Nigeria’s paper manufacturing sector, specialising in the production of high-quality printable and writable white paper sheets.
According to the company, it has remained committed to excellence, innovation, and industrial development despite the challenges facing the manufacturing sector.
The management explained that its operations are built around the recycling of waste paper into reusable products such as printing and writing paper, helping to reduce environmental pollution and ease pressure on government waste management systems across several states.
“As an environmentally responsible organisation, we are dedicated to the recycling of waste paper into reusable products such as printing and writable paper,” the company stated.
Specialty Paper Limited noted that its recycling operations contribute significantly toward reducing environmental waste while supporting sustainable industrial practices within the country.
The company further disclosed that its operations have created employment opportunities for more than 5,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries within Ogun State and across Nigeria.
According to the management, the company also contributes to the tax revenue base of Ogun State while supporting socio-economic growth and development in Ibefun town and surrounding communities.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Madhusree Ramgopal Kabraji, stressed the importance of stronger collaboration between government and local manufacturers to strengthen the paper industry and sustain domestic production.
The company expressed optimism that continuous government engagement and policy support would help bridge existing industrial gaps, strengthen local manufacturing capacity, and promote long-term sustainability in Nigeria’s paper industry.
Beyond education and publishing, paper remains central to packaging, pharmaceuticals, food processing, commerce and manufacturing.
The rise of e-commerce, food delivery services and packaging demand means Nigeria’s paper consumption will continue increasing.
Industry experts argued that reviving local paper manufacturing could significantly reduce pressure on foreign exchange while creating large-scale employment.
Nigeria also possesses abundant raw materials for pulp production, including bamboo, kenaf, sugarcane bagasse and rice straw, many of which remain largely untapped.
Yet decades after the collapse of the country’s once-thriving paper mills, the sector still struggles with policy inconsistency, high energy costs, imported raw materials and weak industrial protection.
The Federal Government’s renewed engagement with local paper manufacturers may signal a policy shift, but industry operators insist that survival will depend on action, not speeches.
Manufacturers are demanding tariff reforms, stricter quality regulation for imported paper, better enforcement against dumping and stronger patronage of locally produced educational materials.
Without those reforms, stakeholders warned that Nigeria may continue exporting jobs, industries and foreign exchange while local factories operate below capacity or shut down completely.
For now, the paper battle unfolding quietly in Ogun State reflects a broader struggle within Nigeria’s economy, the fight between local production and import dependence.
And unless that balance changes, the country may continue paying heavily for paper it has the capacity to produce itself.
