‘Price hike may worsen building collapse’ Soldiers intercept 6 trucks of cement heading to Cameroon From Abiodun Alade, Abdullateef Aliyu, Lagos & Hamisu Matazu,…
The Federal Government says it has called for an urgent meeting with cement manufacturers over the escalating cost of the product in recent times.
Among the cement manufacturers summoned were Dangote, BUA and Lafarge.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, who summoned the meeting, said the government would look into the challenges faced by cement manufacturers as well as the disparity between ex-factory price and market price which is huge.
According to a statement yesterday by the Media Adviser to the minister, Orji Uchenna Orji, the government is worried by the rising cost of cement despite huge patronage by road and housing contractors to these cement manufacturers.
The statement said, “Worried by the escalating cost of cement despite huge patronage by road and housing contractors to cement manufacturers, the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Sen Engr Nweze David Umahi CON, has summoned an urgent meeting of all cement manufacturers in Nigeria.
“It is common knowledge that the manufacturers have their challenges, which we shall look into, but from our findings, the disparity between ex-factory price and the market price is wide.
“We therefore need to look into the situation and other issues with a view to finding a common front.”
There have been reports that the price of a bag of cement has been hovering between N8,000 and N10,000 as against the N5,000 it was sold few weeks back.
Efforts to get the reactions of Chief Branding and Communications Officer of Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina and Head Corporate Communications, Lafarge, Ginikanwa Frank-Durugbor, were unsuccessful as repeated calls to their telephone numbers were unanswered.
‘Cement price hike may worsen building collapse’
A former president of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Kunle Awobodu, in a chat with Daily Trust yesterday, expressed fear that Nigeria might experience more incidents of building collapse on account of the astronomical rise in construction materials, especially cement.
“That’s our general concern so we won’t be having issues of building collapse. It is unfortunate. They are not paying particular attention to our sector,” he said.
He, however, expressed optimism that the invitation of the cement manufacturers by the government would address the lingering problem of cement increase.
The guild had, in December 2023, raised the alarm over impending increment in price of cement and urged the government to call the manufacturers to order.
At that time a bag of cement was being sold for N5000 which the guild said was even too expensive.
Awobodu said: “We saw it coming. We got the information and we alerted the public so we can abort it but nothing was done. It’s not good for our sector.”
According to him, it is not enough to hinge the increment on foreign exchange or hike in diesel price.
Soldiers intercept 6 trucks of cement heading to Cameroon
Meanwhile, troops of the 23 Armored Brigade Yola, Adamawa State, have intercepted six trucks transporting banned goods to Cameroon.
The trucks, which were loaded with 600 50kg bags of cement each, were on Friday displayed to journalists at the state police command.
Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri had issued an Executive Order banning the transportation of building materials across the country’s border through Adamawa routes.
Addressing a joint press conference at the command headquarters, Humwashi Wonosikou, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, condemned the unwholesome act of siphoning those materials out of the country.
He said that the government would penalize those responsible.
The spokesman of the police command, Suleiman Nguroje, said mechanisms had been put in place by security agencies to ensure the state government’s order was not flouted.
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