Stakeholders Task FG On Cement Prices

Sequel to recent increase in the prices of cement, some professional in the building industry have urged the newly constituted Economic Management Team of the President to accord the cement matter a priority, in order to give the president’s directive to crash cement prices a boost.

Some of the these stakeholders disclosed to The Tide that the rise in price of the commodity would further worsen the rate of unemployment  in the country, as well as compound the numerous challenges facing the housing and construction sector.

Reacting to this development, an Estate Surveyor and Valuer, in Port Harcourt, Mr. Ola Adedeji, who is also the principal partners of Ola Adedeji and Co said that further crisis in the sector will compound unemployment related problems. He queried the right of government to give directive on what it does not possess.

According to him “How will any government attempt to legislate on rent if he cannot legislate to produce cement. I know this may not make meaningful impact.”

Adedeji however, expressed optimism that some cement factories in the country that will soon commerce production will bring some rays of hope in solving the cement price problem, and also urged the government team to live up to expectation.

In a related development, Mrs Victoria Odukwu, of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NIPT), who is also a staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Port Harcourt said the market price of cement does not give hope to the masses that housing need will be met accordingly.

Odukwu explained that the price of cement in Owerri, The Imo State Capital have hit N3,000 per 50Kg bag, while some other states are recording over N3,000 as at now.

She said that cement price which is a vital product in the building industry should not be toyed with, as housing is on high demand. NPA staff urged government to seek for means to address the problem holistically and suggested that giving incentives to producers and importers of cement in the country would go a long way to solve the problem.

Reacting to the issue, Mr. Chuks Mba of the Nigerian Institute of builders said government should evolve a firm way of controlling the product, if the regulation of the price of cement will be achieved.

He said that investigations have revealed that there is a serious manipulation of cement prices to the detriment of the Nigerian public.

Corlins Walter