Make cements affordable to Nigerians, CBN tells BUA, Dangote

Governor of the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele has urged cement manufacturers in the country to consider dropping the price of the product.

According to Emefiele, the manufacturing companies should put in efforts to reduce the prices of building materials in the country to make housing more affordable.

Emefiele made this plea on Thursday at the inauguration of the new BUA cement plant commissioned by President Muhammad Buhari in Sokoto.

While praising Abdul Samad Rabiu, BUA chairman, CBN stressed that the decision to restrict access to foreign exchange for cement and 43 other items was to boost local production capacity.

A bag of cement is currently sold closer to N5000 and this Emefiele noted was having an effect on ordinary Nigerians.

Read also: Nigeria’s cement makers’ revenue hit N1.29tn in 9 months

He therefore called on manufacturing companies in the construction sector to focus more attention on satisfying the domestic needs in the infrastructure sector to reduce the prices of cement and steel.

While disclosing that the production capacity of cement companies in Nigeria had increased from 30 million metric tonnes in 2014 to 60 million metric tonnes in 2021, he declared that no dollar had been spent on cement importation into Nigeria in the past seven years.

“For those who are willing to invest in new greenfield or existing brownfield projects, the CBN will provide all the support needed, both in naira and dollars needed to import plants and equipment to actualise these investments,” Emefiele said.

He added that such investments will help to support the CBN’s mandate of promoting stable macro-economic growth, adding that it is committed to collaborating with prospective operators in the industrial sector.

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