Cement: Senate seeks liberal policies to curb rising cost

The Senate has urged the Federal Government to introduce liberal policies to stimulate more investment in the manufacturing of cement to curb the rising cost of the product.

It said such policies should include provision of industrial and larger tax incentives to encourage local investments in cement production in Nigeria.

This resolution was reached on Tuesday following the consideration of a motion titled, ‘Need for liberalisation of cement policy in Nigeria’, sponsored by Senator Ashiru Oyelola Yisa and five others.

The co-sponsors of the motion are Senators Muhammad Enagi Bima (Niger South); Adelere Adeyemi Oriolowo (Osun West); Samuel Egwu (Ebonyi North); Kabiru Gaya (Kano South) and Michael Nnachi (Ebonyi South).

Senator Yisa identified cement as one of the few building materials in which Nigeria enjoys  self-sufficiency.

Yisa said, “As at 2018, the installed capacity of cement producers was about 47.8 million metric tonnes (MMT) which is far above the estimated (2018) consumption of about 20.7MMT.

“Yet, the prices of cement in Nigeria- (N380) – is about 240 per cent higher than the global average.

“Cognizant that cement takes a large share of domestic expenditure and the price of each commodity significantly impacts the government’s ability to provide much-needed infrastructural work required for the growth of our economy.”

In its resolution, the Senate called on the Federal Government to provide more incentives and protection, such as concessionary loans and huge tax rebate for new entrants in order to boost production of cements, reduce price and encourage more valuable producers in Nigeria.