Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of BUA
The Chairman of BUA Cement Plc., Abdul Samad Rabiu, has disclosed his company's plan to crash the price of cement in Nigeria from the current ₦5,500 to between ₦3,000 and ₦3,500.
Rabiu made this known while speaking to journalists shortly after an audience with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja on Friday, September 15, 2023.
According to the billionaire business, the proposed price crash is part of his company's contribution to support the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to stabilise the prices of essential commodities.
He, however, noted that the plan would only come to fruition after the opening of two new plants of 3 million tons operating capacity each to be commissioned at the end of the year.
“Let me thank his excellency Mr. President for graciously receiving me today, I came to intimate his excellency on the affairs of our cement business.
“We have two new lines of 3 million tons each that we will be commissioning by the end of the year.
“So I explained to him that we want to support the efforts of the government in bringing down the cost of cement, by the time these lines are commissioned BUA Cement will be producing about 17 million tons per annum and with that, we intend to bring down the cost of cement from its current level of N5,000 or N5,500 per bag to maybe N3,000 to N3,500 per bag,” Rabiu told State House correspondents.
The BUA chief explained that the company could only do this because it produces cement locally, adding that two new plants slated to be commissioned by Tinubu would jack up production capacity to 17 million metric tons.
“Eighty per cent of the raw materials that we are using to produce cement in Nigeria are mainly limestone and gypsum and of course, energy is part of it. Of course, we have gas in Nigeria.
“So we want to support the government, we want to support their efforts in ensuring that the prices of these commodities are brought down incidentally,’’ Rabiu concluded.
