By Our Reporter
The management of BUA Cement Company has said it honoured its pledge to reduce its price of cement to N3,500 and accused the intermediaries and wholesalers whom the company alleged prevented the intended recipients, the end-users, from accessing the reduced price.
lt was reported in the media in October 2023 that the Management of BUA Cement announced the reduction of ex-factory cement prices to N3,500 per bag, and would take effect from Monday, October 2, 2023.
Barely five months thereafter, all brands of cement in the country including BUA, rose to between N10,000 and N13,000 per bag in an open market, a development that cast doubt on reduction of BUA Cement to N3,500 in October 2023.
ln a statement published on its BUA Cement X account in October 2023, the cement manufacturer said that the gesture was in keeping with the previous promise to reduce prices of Cement upon the completion of its new lines at the end of the year, in order to spur development in the building materials and infrastructure sectors.
Part of the statement reads: “Our licensed dealers are also enjoined to ensure that end-users benefit from this reduction in ex-factory prices as we will monitor field sales to ensure compliance.”
In the meantime, following threats from some civil rights organisations to picket the company for non-implementation of its avowed commitment and solemn promise to Nigerians to reduce the price of cement to N3,500 per 50kg bag, the company said the wholesalers and intermediaries should be held responsible for hike in the price of this product.
BUA’s clarification followed a seven-day deadline issued by two civil society groups to its management, demanding the sale of cement at N3,500 per bag or face the picketing of the company.
Mr. Timothy Sogbeinde, who oversees Creatives & Visual Identity management at BUA Group, in addressing the CSO picketing threats over the company’s alleged failure to deliver on its commitment to reduce the price of cement to N3,500, the company asserted that it had indeed honoured that promise.
Sogbeinde shared that the company had been selling cement at an ex-factory price of N3,500 for several months before discontinuing the offer.
The executive director, Mr Kabir Rabiu said, “We actually sold our cement for three to four months at N3,500. We thought other players in the cement industry would join us in making the price of cement affordable.”
Kabir noted that BUA was unable to maintain the discounted price of N3,500, as the intermediaries and wholesalers prevented the intended recipients, the end-users, from accessing the reduced price.
