N8,000 Cement Price Not Good For The Economy – Developers

The agreement reached between the Federal Government and cement manufacturers has been rejected by developers in the building industry.

Osun Defender reports that cement manufacturers resolved at the meeting that prices of cement would be reduced to between N7,000 and N8,000.

However, the President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Aliyu Wamakko, said in an exclusive interview with The Punch that the reduction was not good for the economy.

He said, “I do not think that is good for the economy of this country because cement constitutes the primary product for any building construction to be done.

“The Chief Executive Officer of BUA Cement, Abdul Samad Rabiu, promised Nigerians that by January 1, 2024, the cement price would be slashed to N3,500, so what is the problem.”

He said most of the components of cement are sourced locally.

“Why should the price be reduced to N8,000? Anything above N5,000 is not beneficial for the economy and it would not bring any positive impact towards the reduction in the 28 million housing deficit,” he added.

According to Wamakko, the price of cement should be brought down to N5,000 for any meaningful thing to be done.

He added, “At N8,000, most of the building projects in the country would be uncompleted. There must be a review of abandoned buildings all over the country, most especially the ones in 2023.

“90 percent of cement is sourced locally, so I do not understand why the cement should go up to that price.”

In a similar vein, the Executive Secretary of the Association of Housing Corporations in Nigeria, Toye Eniola, condemned the negotiation.

He said, “What is fair in N7,000 to N8,000 when BUA promised us a slash from over N5,500 to N3,500 and now they are negotiating N8,000? Where are we heading to?

“That negotiation is for the rich. What they are saying is with that price, housing is going not to be for the poor. With that price, there is no poor man that would be able to afford it and it would keep widening the deficit gap.

“The way forward is to go back to the basics, this is the time to embrace local building materials, for instance, we have interlocking blocks and we require about 5 percent of cement for this which would save us a lot of money.

“Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute has done a lot of research on alternative building materials that can be used in Nigeria, for instance, they have researched the use of bamboo as an alternative to the iron rod.”