There is outrage in Kano metropolis over continuous spike in the price of cement in the state capital. Last year, Daily News recalls, a bag of cement was sold at between N3000 to N3500, but this year the price of the commodity has risen to N5,500 Daily News investigation shows.
This development has resulted to a concomitant surge in the cost of rent across the state capital, thereby adding to the already adverse economic situation on ground.
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Speaking about the situation, Alhaji Sani Ahmad, a cement dealer in Kano, said the recent increase is occasioned by the demand for the product in the market.
He said, the change is artificially imposed by the retailers because of the continuous demand. “The situation revolves around the chain that the commodity follows to get to the final consumers.
Mas’ud Lado Sale is a Secretary General of Nigerian Institute of Building. He relates the price hike to so many factors that the stakeholders involve need to look into.
“So many factors contributed, which includes high demand of the cement in cities and villages.
“Our investigation shows that Nigeria needs about 27 million ton of cement every year, which neighboring countries are benefiting from the production too, and the companies cannot meet up the demand.
“There’s also high cost of production that arise from Naira devaluation in Nigeria, as 80% of the major ingredients cannot be found here.
“Our stand is to ask the companies to strategize their supply chain and make some adjustments, since they said that the commodity is still in its known price,” Builder Mas’ud Lado Sale.
Abdulmalik Shuaibu who is currently carrying out construction work on his house, called on the stakeholders involve to bring out modalities that will help in reducing the price.
“I started this construction work two years back, and this is difficult time that I experienced in getting raw material to finish ongoing project, because even the sand is not easy to get, let alone cement and the likes,” Abdulmalik Shuaibu.
