It has been confirmed that the 21st
century Goss SSC printing machine, donated to the Akwa Ibom Newspapers Corporation
(AKNC), by the State government, will start full operations before the
expiration of the present administration.
The assurance came,
Thursday, from the General Manager of the corporation who is also
Editor-in-chief, Pioneer Newspapers, Mr Udo Silas, while playing host to the
State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council, Elder
Patrick Albert as well as the SWC of the Union.
The multi million Naira machine,
which is the very first to be installed in this part of the country has the
running capacity of printing 45, 000 copies of Newspapers with full impressions
in just one hour.
Other features of the fully
computerized printing machine, according to the Senior Technical Officer
(Mechanical) of the corporation, Mr Anietie Emem, are : Calibrated lever style
ink keys with swing-down fountains, mono to four-high tower unit
configurations, blanket cylinders with T-bar blanket lock-up, plate cylinder
with slot-gap lockup, pneumatic controls with sequential timing, auto register
and cut-off controls as well as UV printing capabilities.
Earlier in his speech, the NUJ
Chairman, Elder Patrick Albert said he was in the GM’s office on a courtesy
call to thank Mr Udo Silas for his support to him during and after his
elections, adding that he has not disappointed him and members of his Pioneer
Chapel since coming into office as the NUJ boss.
Elder Patrick stated that his mission
was to avail him and his SWC members the opportunity to know when the Pioneer
Printing Press would commence operation as the printing industry in the state
and beyond was waiting to tap into the services the press would offer as soon
as it was operational. He thanked the
General Manager of Akwa Ibom Newspaper Corporation for turning things around in
the area of human capital development, staff welfare, rebranding of the Pioneer
newspaper to make it presentable vis a vis other national tabloids and urged
him to keep the flag flying.
In his response the General Manager
of AKNC, Mr Udo Silas thanked Elder Patrick Albert for performing beyond his
expectation in less than one year and seven months in office. He thanked the NUJ boss for the value he has
added to the Pioneer titles via the South-South pull out, adding that his
courtesy call was coming on time and that he would have been disappointed if
such a strategic visit was not undertaken to by the NUJ to find out the
progress made so far as regards such effort by Akwa Ibom State government to
give the AKNC a befitting press.
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| Goss Community Press |
He said the Rotary Press was the
latest computer to press technology which modern newspaper concerns were using
adding that such press was owned by mega media giants like The Nation and The Sun
newspapers. It was his position that the
Goss Community Press installation was 80% completed, waiting for power supply
installations and test-running operations which would be done by the technical
personnel of the Corporation in collaboration with technical partners who sold
the machine. He said that some
operational staff were sent for training outside the state and had since
returned, waiting for work to start.
Mr Silas said he was sure before the
end of the administration the test-running would take place as the governor was
bent on ensuring and edition or more of the Pioneer newspaper is printed by the
new Press before his tenure ends.
The high point of the courtesy visit
was a facility tour of the plant and the new press complex with offices waiting
for furniture items, store, computer room for computer to press operations,
production hall with the Goss Community Press already installed.
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