By Abbanobi – Eku Onyekachi
Abuja
Conveyed by the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), Engr Dave Umahi, in collaboration with his counterpart in the Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment (FMITI), Dr Doris Anite – Uzoka and stakeholders in the cement manufacturing industry, the price of cement has been reduced to N8000 and N7000 respectively, depending on the location.
This was contained in a release from the Special Adviser to the Minister, FMW, Barr Orji Uchenna Orji yesterday.
The meeting witnessed the convener, the FMITI Minister, representatives from cement manufacturing companies like Dangote Cement Plc, Larfiagi Africa Plc, Bua Cement Plc and Cement Producers Association in attendance in the office of the Minister, FMW, Manushi, Abuja.
The meeting noted as challenges I’m the industry, among which were: the cost of gas; import duty; bad roads; foreign exchange and; smuggling cement to neighbouring countries.
Noting the challenges by the government, the FMITI was asked to seek remedies from Mr President; FMW to give more attentions to roads close to manufacturing companies; FMITI should collaborate with National Security Agency to stop smuggling.
However, the manufacturers agreed to ensure that 50kg cement be sold at N8000 and N7000, depending on location, even as they were mandated to set up a price monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance, which they willingly accepted.
Earlier in an opening remark, Umahi said that the meeting was aimed at addressing the concerns of Nigerians on the escalating cost of cement in Nigeria, marked by the disparities between the ex factory price and the market price. He said that the meeting would proffer enduring solution to abating increase in cement price.
Similarly in a remark, the Minister, FMITI said, she was surprise at the surging prices of cement, despite her Ministry’s regulatory policies and Backward Integration Programe (BIP) introduced to manage cement price and development. She therefore regretted that the whole idea of the Backward Integration Program (BIP) they introduce in the ministry to manage and develop cement manufacturing industry wasn’t bearing the required results.
