Cement Price Goes Up In Delta

Respite is yet to come to Delta residents on the issue of cement as the price of the product has again risen in major cities in the state.

The price of the building material, which remained at N1,650 a bag in August, has increased to N1,950.

The increase, an investigation revealed, was recorded in Sapele, Asaba, Agbor, Ughelli, Warri and other towns in the state.

Dangote and Elephant brands were most-affected.

Some cement dealers in Asaba attributed the increase in price to a major breakdown at Dangote cement factory and warehouse in Lagos.

One of the dealers, Mr Philip Okolie, said that the problem in the Lagos area operations of Dangote, a major supply point, had impacted greatly on the supply of cement in the country, especially in the southern part.

Mrs Chinwe Ofili, another cement dealer in the state capital, said that supply of the product had dropped significantly in the last two weeks as a result of the problem at Dangote facility.

She appealed to the Federal Government and Dangote company to ensure that cement supply and price problems were addressed as intended by President Goodkluck Jonathan.

Ofilis stated that everyone was happy when cement price came down after government’s intervention sometime in May “and we recorded high traffic of customers but the situation seems to be returning to hard times”.

The government had earlier in the year directed cement manufacturers and distributors to reduce the price of cement to make it affordable to most Nigerians.

The intervention brought temporary respite to cement users as the price which dropped to about N1,500 from more N2,300 a bag, soared again barely one month after.