After receiving several criticisms by the citizens over its inability to produce something as ‘mundane’ as pencils, the Nigerian government is now set to start its production by using old newspapers.
This was disclosed by Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu Monday.
He said the government would partner with Bamib Resources & Investments Company to produce 2.4million dozens of pencils per annum which would surpass local and sub-regional needs.
Addressing some officials of the company who were on a courtesy call to his office, he said: “We commend you for the work you have done in the best interest of our nation. When I went to one of our agencies in Enugu, I found out that they were conducting research on pencils and I was very disturbed when they informed me that as of that time, there was no company in Nigeria producing pencils. There were companies before that produced pencils but they have all collapsed, so I was very concerned. As the minister of science and technology, I felt that something like pencil which both the young and old use, looks very simple, so I felt that a country like Nigeria should be able to produce all the pencils we need and I had to make the institute in Enugu to make sure they continued with that research.
“We gave them about two years, I was not just interested in just producing pencils for the sake of it but one that we can say that all the raw materials are from Nigeria which will help us in job creation, creating wealth and moving a lot of people out of poverty, I am happy that BRPDA has made some progress, they are working on seeing that all the inputs come from Nigeria, the Akwa Ibom state government also has a company producing pencils but we are happy that on you own, you are taking the decision.”
