The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Paper Mills

By Okoi Obono-Obla 

The Rise and Fall of Nigeria’s Paper Mills:

I completed my mandatory National Youth Service Corps in Benin City, Bendel State, in September 1991. However, on 27 August 1991, the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida divided Bendel State (originally the Mid-Western Region in 1963, Mid-Western Group of Provinces in 1966, Mid-Western State in 1967, and Bendel State in 1976) into the present Edo and Delta States. After service, I returned to my home community in Ugep, then headquarters of the defunct Ugep Local Government Area, to rest and contemplate my future.

In February 1992, I joined the law firm of Kanu Godwin Agabi (SAN) & Associates, owned by Mr. Kanu Godwin Agabi SAN, who later served as Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (1999–2000, 2001–2003). At the time, Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, was a sleepy city whose economy was dominated by civil servants, with little industrial activity.

I recall that there was once a major industry located in Oku Iboku — the Oku Iboku Newsprint Paper Mill in present-day Akwa Ibom State, less than a 30‑minute drive away. The mill was a legal retainer for Kanu Godwin Agabi SAN & Associates, which employed more than thirty lawyers. Several other lawyers in Calabar and Akwa Ibom State were also engaged through its retainership. The mill itself employed hundreds of workers and stood as a sprawling industrial complex established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1975, commissioned in 1986 to manufacture paper for the country’s printing industry.

The Oku Iboku Paper Mill (Nigerian Newsprint Manufacturing Company) was originally the only newsprint manufacturer in West and Central Africa. Designed to produce 100,000 metric tons of finished newsprint annually, it was the first pulp and paper mill in the world to utilize tropical hardwood (gmelina arborea) for newsprint. Sadly, it shut down in 1994 and has remained largely moribund ever since, despite repeated privatization attempts. During President Olusegun Obasanjo’s privatization programme in 2008, supervised by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as Chairman of the National Council on Privatization, the mill suffered failed resuscitation efforts and alleged asset-stripping by subsequent owners.

Other paper mills established in Nigeria included the Nigerian Paper Mill in Jebba (Kwara State) and the Iwopin Paper Mill in Ogun State. Both were also privatized but failed woefully.

More than thirty years later, the same policymakers who implemented these failed strategies — which destroyed industries and jobs — are now the loudest voices accusing reformers of “destroying the country.” They deceive younger generations who do not know that Nigeria once had four paper mills spread across the nation, creating jobs and economic opportunities.

Conclusion:
The story of Nigeria’s paper mills is a cautionary tale of wasted potential, failed policies, and missed opportunities. Once symbols of industrial ambition, they now stand as monuments to neglect. Reviving such industries could be key to reshaping Nigeria’s economic trajectory and restoring faith in local manufacturing.