... as a bag of cement now costs between N9,000 and N16,000 depending on the part of the country from the old price of between N6,000 and N6,500

The Federal Government has summoned  an emergency meeting with major cement manufacturers in the country, on Monday, February 19, 2024, over escalating prices of the essential building commodity.

Those summoned include the Dangote Plc, BUA Plc and 3.Larfarge among others.

The meeting is slated to hold at the Federal Ministry of Works, Mabushi-Abuja:

Time: 1 pm dot

These were contained in a statement signed by the Special Adviser, Media, to the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, Orji Uchenna Orji, on Friday.

The statement read,  "Worried by the escalating cost of cement despite huge patronage by road and housing contractors to cement manufacturers, the Minister  of Works,  Sen 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. Please treat this as a matter of urgent  national  importance."

Prices of 50kg of cement have escalated in the last two weeks with consumers now being forced to pay between N9,000 and N13,000, depending on the area of purchase. 

At Enugu Ezike, Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State, BUA sold for N11,500 while Dangote was a little cheaper while 5 inch blocks sold at between N450 and N500 each. In Enugu, the state capital, same bag of BUA sold for between N11,500 and N13,000 per bag. It was same story nationwide, even are now idle as a lot of people engaged in minor construction businesses have stopped patronising them.