We should be exporting these services to other African countries
At a ceremony marking his departure from Academy Press in Ikeja, former managing director Gbenga Ladipo turned a personal milestone into a public argument: that Nigeria has already built what it needs to print its own elections. His appeal to the Independent National Electoral Commission was not rooted in sentiment but in evidence — decades of industrial growth, skilled labor, and demonstrated capacity that foreign contracts quietly bypass. In the longer arc of Nigeria's development, the question he raises is whether institutions will trust the strength their own nation has quietly assembled.
- Nigeria continues to send electoral printing work abroad despite having developed the equipment, workforce, and resources to handle it entirely at home.
- Each foreign contract drains capital and expertise from a domestic printing sector that has matured enough to compete at the highest levels of precision and security.
- Ladipo's own stewardship of Academy Press — growing annual turnover from 500 million to 6 billion naira — stands as living proof that local capacity is not aspirational but already real.
- The call to INEC is urgent: future electoral cycles will again force the sourcing question, and the window to establish a precedent of self-reliance is open now.
- If Nigeria commits to local production, the compounding effect could position it as a continental printing hub, drawing investment and talent from across Africa.
When Gbenga Ladipo stepped down as managing director of Academy Press after nearly three decades, he chose his farewell ceremony in Ikeja not as a moment of quiet reflection but as a platform. His message to Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission was unambiguous: the country no longer needs to look abroad for the ballots, result sheets, and sensitive documents that elections require.
Ladipo's case rested on a simple observation — the capacity already exists. Nigeria's printing sector has the equipment, the skilled workers, and the resources to handle electoral materials at scale and with the precision such work demands. What has been missing, he argued, is institutional willingness to use what is already there. Outsourcing this work to foreign printers keeps money and expertise flowing outward from an economy that has earned the right to retain them.
The numbers behind his own career gave the argument weight. Under his leadership, Academy Press grew from roughly 500 million naira in annual turnover to approximately 6 billion — not by avoiding difficulty, but by navigating it. The company's expansion was a demonstration, in miniature, of what Nigerian industry can achieve when it is trusted and supported.
Ladipo's broader vision extended beyond a single commission's procurement decisions. He saw sustained local patronage as a foundation for positioning Nigeria as a printing services hub for the African continent — a role that would compound in value over time, attracting further investment and deepening domestic expertise. His parting words expressed confidence in the team he was leaving behind, but his real audience was the policymakers who will decide, again and again, whether to trust the infrastructure Nigeria has spent decades building.
Gbenga Ladipo stood at a turning point. After nearly three decades steering Academy Press through the complexities of Nigeria's printing industry, the former managing director was marking his departure at a ceremony in Ikeja. But he was not leaving quietly. Instead, he used the moment to make a case that extends far beyond his own company—one about Nigeria's capacity to stand alone.
Ladipo's message to the Independent National Electoral Commission was direct: stop looking abroad for electoral materials. Nigeria, he argued, has everything required to print ballots, result sheets, and all the sensitive documents that elections demand. The equipment exists. The skilled workers exist. The resources exist. What is missing, he suggested, is the will to use them.
This is not a small claim. Elections are among the most consequential printing jobs a nation undertakes. The materials must be secure, precise, and produced at scale. For years, Nigeria has outsourced portions of this work to foreign printers, a practice that Ladipo sees as both unnecessary and counterproductive. The printing sector in Nigeria has matured, he insisted. It is large enough, capable enough, and ready enough to handle whatever the electoral commission requires.
What makes his argument compelling is not just the assertion but the reasoning behind it. Ladipo framed local printing as an investment in self-reliance—a way to keep money and expertise circulating within Nigeria's economy rather than flowing outward. He saw it as a path to building domestic capacity that could eventually serve not just Nigeria but the broader African continent. If Nigeria became known as a reliable hub for printing services across Africa, that capability would compound over time, attracting more work, more investment, more skilled practitioners.
Ladipo's own trajectory at Academy Press illustrated what local capacity could achieve. When he joined the company, it was turning over roughly 500 million naira annually. By the time he stepped down, that figure had grown to approximately 6 billion naira. The company had not simply survived; it had expanded substantially, navigating challenges that would have shuttered less resilient operations. He acknowledged the difficulties—the obstacles were real—but the outcome spoke for itself.
His parting words carried both confidence and hope. He expressed faith that the team remaining at Academy Press would push the company even further, that the trajectory would continue upward. But his broader message was directed at INEC and, by extension, at Nigeria's policymakers. The choice to source electoral materials locally is not a charitable gesture toward domestic industry. It is a recognition of capability that already exists, a decision to strengthen what is already strong.
The timing of this call matters. As Nigeria prepares for future electoral cycles, the question of where and how materials are produced will arise again. Ladipo's argument suggests that the answer should be domestic—not out of nationalism, but out of practical sense. Nigeria has built the capacity. The question now is whether the institutions that depend on these materials will trust and support the infrastructure that has been developed.
Notable Quotes
The printing industry in Nigeria is big enough to do whatever we need to print. We have equipment, people and resources that will enable us to be self-sustaining.— Gbenga Ladipo, former Managing Director of Academy Press Plc.
We should be exporting these services to other African countries, as we are already doing.— Gbenga Ladipo
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter where electoral materials are printed? Isn't the important thing just that they're accurate and secure?
That's true, but it's incomplete. Yes, accuracy and security are non-negotiable. But where you print also determines who benefits from the work, where the money stays, and whether you're building something that lasts.
So Ladipo is saying Nigeria can do this work as well as any foreign printer?
That's exactly what he's saying. And he's not speaking from theory—Academy Press grew from 500 million naira to 6 billion under his watch. That's evidence of what local capacity can achieve when it's given the chance.
But couldn't there be reasons INEC has used foreign printers? Maybe cost, or speed, or some technical requirement?
Possibly. But Ladipo's point is that those reasons may no longer hold. The industry has matured. The equipment is there. The people are there. What's missing is the decision to use them.
If Nigeria starts printing all its own electoral materials, what changes?
Money stays in the country. Expertise deepens. Other African nations see that it's possible and start doing the same. Nigeria becomes known for this capability. Over time, that compounds into something much larger than just one election cycle.
Is he asking for something unrealistic?
No. He's asking INEC to recognize what already exists and to trust it.