By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Federal Government has vowed to give more attention to fixing roads and seek some remedies on the cost of gas and import duties to bring down the rising cost price of cement nationwide.
This is part of the communiqué issued during a meeting between the government and the major cement manufacturers on Monday, 19 February, 2024, in Abuja.
The Minister of Works Senator David Umahi; and his counterpart in the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Mrs Doris Uzoka-Anite; and the three major cement manufacturers – Dangote Plc, BUA Plc and Lafarge Plc signed the communiqué.
According to the document, the government took note of the challenges enumerated by the manufacturers, which include cost of gas, high import duty on spare parts, bad road network, high foreign exchange and smuggling of cement to neighbouring nations.
The meeting concluded that the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment would seek some remedies from President Bola Tinubu on the cost of gas and import duties.
The Federal Ministry of Works would give more attention to fixing the roads, especially around the locations of the manufacturers.
On cement smuggling, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment was to deepen the engagement with the National Security Adviser on how to stop the menace.
The meeting also agreed that the current high price of cement was abnormal in some locations nationwide.
