Research shows that paper production is not only capital intensive but has massive usage in the economy. Nigeria is said to expend about N500 billion annually, to import pulp and paper products. However, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), is involving investors to save forex for Nigeria. BINTA SHAMA reports.
Self-sufficiency in paper production
The pulp and paper industry in Nigeria was one of the major industries that performed well in the 1970-80’s before the oil glut era. Self-sufficiency in paper production was one of the major cardinal objectives of the government in the 1960s and 1970s. This was evidenced by the establishment of three integrated pulp and paper mills locally between 1969 and 1976. Two of the mills performed, i.e., the Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba and the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Oku Iboku, performed optimally and paper importation faded out in the 1980’s. For instance, in Nigeria Paper Mill, actual production in 1985 was 40,480mt and in 1986, 42,960 tonnes, representing 62.3% and 66.17% capacity utilization respectively. This pattern of capacity utilisation was also experienced at the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company, (NNMC), Oku-lboku about the same period. The volume of production at NNMC rose from 28,927 tonnes in 1989 to 37,581 tonnes in 1990. Due to establishment of the NNMC, importation of newsprint reduced drastically to 17.5% in 1986 and 12.5% in 1987 respectively and faded out in 1988. However, due to the down turn in the economy in the 1990’s, the integrated mills convulsed and capacity utilization nosedived. Capacity utilization at the Nigeria Paper Mill went down as low as 2.5% in the early 1990’s until the mill stopped production in 1996. The third pulp and paper mill, the Iwopin Pulp and Paper Company was also established in 1976 to produce fine printing and cultural papers. By 1983, when mill was at about 85% completion, it was abandoned, and up till the time it was shut down in 1998, the mill did not produce up to 5% if it’s installed capacity. In line with the privatization agenda of the Federal Government, the primary pulp and paper mills were privatized in 2006. Although, the Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba, has commenced production of kraft paper on one of its paper machines, the two other mills are yet to commence production. This situation has seriously affected the pulp and paper industry in the country, and today the country depends on importation of writing, printing and newsprint papers.
Challenges to pulp and paper production in Nigeria
A number of problems are militating against optimal pulp and paper production in Nigeria. Among the three integrated pulp and paper mills, the one with the lowest installed capacity is the Iwopin Pulp and Paper Company with an installed capacity of 68,000 tonnes per annum. This translates to 186 tonnes per day. As any mill with production capacity above 100 tonnes per day is considered a large scale mill by UNIDO, all the integrated mills are large scale mills. In Nigeria where there is inadequate infrastructure, long fibre and chemicals raw materials, energy and skilled manpower coupled with low capital base, the establishment of only large scale mills can neither be considered optimal nor appropriate. Thus, a mix of scale of operations is required if the industry is to perform to expectation. In India, where per capital consumption is very low compared to developed economies; papermaking holds a considerable share in manufacturing production. Both small and big mills coexist to produce a variety of paper and paperboard products as well as newsprint. The average size of paper mill India was 10,400 tonnes per annum compared with 85,000 tonnes per annum in Asia and 300,000 tonnes per annum in Europe and North America.
Overdependence on imported fibre pulp
Another major problem is that the integrated pulp and paper mills in Nigeria depend overwhelmingly on imported long fibre pulp. The forests in Nigeria consist predominantly of mixed tropical hardwood species whose fibre lengths vary from 0.8mm to 1.6mm. Fibre length is an important factor influencing strength development in paper. As the integrated pulp and paper mills established locally are expected to produce fine writing and printing papers, kraft paper and newsprint, the mills require long fibre pulp to mix with the short fibre pulp to enable development of strength required by each of the products. One of the major problems of the mills is the high cost of importing approximately 85,000 tonnes of long fibre pulp required in the process. As at 1990, approximately $85 million was required to import 85,000 tonnes of long fibre pulp and about $20 million required to import different types of chemicals required by the mills. However, the oil glut of the era made the sourcing of the foreign exchange impossible, leading to abandonment of the mills. Today, about 500 billion Naira is expended annually to import pulp and paper products.
One of the strategic plans of the Nigerian government for the development of the paper industry was to promote plantation and the establishment of Pinus species, most especially, Pinus caribbaea and Pinus oocarpa for long fibre pulp production. In view of this, seeds were imported and established in plantations in various locations within the savanna and forest ecologies in Nigeria.
Strategies for paper production optimisation
There is need for a deliberate strategic plan by national planners to develop the sector locally. One of the major areas that need strategic approach is long fibre pulp development. Efforts have been made locally to promote kenaf utilization in the pulp and paper industry.
Studies indicated that the mean fibre length of locally grown kenaf is 2.90 mm while the fibre diameter was reported as 28.16um; lumen width, 6.08 um; and cell wall thickness; 11.04 um respectively. The average fibre length, diameter, lumen width and cell wall thickness of the kenaf sample are comparable to the range of 2.7mm to 4.6mm for softwood tracheids. Consequently, it is RMRDC’s considered opinion that kenaf bast fibre could go a long way in alleviating the problems posed by a shortage of long fibre pulp. As a result of this, the Raw Materials Research and Development Council constituted a task force that determined the optimal parameters for commercial scale pulping of bast kenaf fibres in Nigeria.
The report of the task force showed that bast fibre pulp of kenaf can replace imported long fibre pulp. However since the completion of the study, little or no progress had been made in securing private sector investment in kenaf long fibre pulp production as a result of the high cost of erecting a new pulp mill to use kenaf as its major raw material, the unwillingness of the paper mills in the country to change from the use of wood to non-wood raw material coupled with the collapse of the pulp and paper mills in the country in the mid 1990’s.
Likewise, R&D carried out locally has shown that Sterculia setigera and Sterculia oblonga have long fibre characteristics. Studies have shown the fibre length to be about 2.41mm, indicating that it can be used to produce pulp with properties reminiscent to those of imported long fibre pulp. Thus, the Council is working toward achieving this. Also, studies have shown Sterculia oblonga to have long fibre length.
Likewise, bamboo should also be reconsidered for pulp and paper production. Bamboo is widely distributed in the south and middle belt regions of the country. Despite this, bamboo utilization for pulp and paper production was dropped by the Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba in 1980’s. The fibre length of Nigerian bamboo varies from 2.37-2.92mm, indicating the possibility of producing strong paper with good tearing resistance from the plant. The major problem of bamboo pulping is silica deposition as the high silica content must be taken into consideration in view of scaling problems in the cooking plant and in black liquor evaporator which may lead to difficulty in lime pre-burning.
RMRDC Initiatives
Paper production is a capital intensive activity. This notwithstanding, a number of investors have shown interest in investing in this area. However, the high dependence on imported raw materials has always been militating against this. This has made the need for investment promotion in small scale mills imperative. A major advantage of small scale paper mills is the low initial capital requirement which makes it more attractive to the small scale investor. To encourage development of small scale pulp and paper making industries in Nigeria, government may have to earmark certain products exclusively in the domain of the small scale paper industries and to protect them from competition from the large industries that have been privatised.
Production of paper from agricultural wastes
One of the major options given to countries with substantial agricultural produce is the production of paper from agricultural wastes. In India, three categories of pulp and paper mills are recognized. These are forest based mills; agro residues based mills and recycle fibre based mills. The forest based mills accounted for 49% of total raw materials input for paper, paperboard and newsprints production while agricultural residues and wastes paper accounted for 29% and 22% respectively. Also, in India, the consumption shares of forest based materials has been declining overtime.