[size=13pt]Cement price remains high in Lagos, Bayelsa[/size]

It appears that cement might still be beyond the reach of most people for awhile.


This situation is coming a month after the Federal Government held a series of meetings with cement manufacturers and other market players on how to raise the existing capacity for local production and tackle the unprecedented hike in the unit price of the product nationwide.


SATURDAY PUNCH investigations showed that not much had changed since the government promised to ensure that cement was not sold beyond the price it had officially approved.


In Lagos, the price of a bag of cement, which hovered between N1,800 and N2,400 on Friday, had given sellers and end users a cause for concern.


Noting that cement sold almost twice as much as the current price in July and August, a cement dealer at Egbeda, Lagos, Mr. Olalekan Alabi, said that September had witnessed a reduction in the price of the product.


Similarly, Mustapha Ayodele, another seller in Sasha, Lagos, remarked that unlike the past two months, some Lagosians could now afford cement.


Ayodele said, “There is no shortfall in the supply. We still get our supplies as we used to. But I don’t think many people can afford to buy cement at the current prices.”


Counting his losses, another Lagosian, Mr. Kenneth Ndu, said he had been unable to complete his house because of the hike in the price of cement.


Another resident of Sasha, Mr. Rotimi Lawal, said the price of cement had made him to reconsider his decision to embark on a building project.


Lawal said, “I initially wanted to start developing my land in this area, but I had to change my mind when the Federal Government said the price of cement would fall. I don’t know if it is going to fall lower than it already has.”


Block makers in Lagos, especially those operating on the mainland are lamenting the high cost of cement. Most of them told our correspondents that the lingering rise in the price of cement did not necessarily give them the leverage to raise the prices of their own products.


Adesoye Ayodele, the owner of Murphy & Associate, Ojodu Berger, Lagos, said that when he decided to raise the price of his blocks, he incurred the displeasure of most of his customers.


He said, “My customers still complain a lot about the price of my blocks. But it is hardly my fault. Cement was sold for N1,650 before it rose to N2,400. Now a bag of cement goes for N2,000.


“I was selling my nine inch vibrated block for N140 and the six inch vibrated block for N130. The hand made block sold for N120. Now the vibrated nine inch goes for N150 per unit, while the six inch goes for N140. The hand made one goes for N120.”


Three factors, SATURDAY PUNCH discovered, accounted for the fluctuating price of cement, especially in Lagos. One of them is the tendency among some manufacturers to always change their prices at will and without carrying a proper survey of the market.


Second, the rising cost of diesel compel distributors and sellers to pass the burden to end users by selling at the current price.


The third factor is the brand of cement that is preferred by most buyers. A survey of the prevailing price index in the market by our correspondents showed that some brands cost more than others. For example, while the Elephant and Dangote brands sold for N1, 850 and N1, 750, respectively; Burham sold between N2,000 and N2, 200 in some parts of Lagos.


A Lagosian, Mr. Samuel Ajayi, blamed the FG for the increase in price of cement.


He said, “The government should just come out and say they do not want us to build houses again. They are meant to encourage people to be house owners, but the reverse is the case.


“How can a bag of cement that used to go for N1,600 just shoot up to N2,400? Then settle at N2, 000? It’s just unfair.”


The picture was the same in most parts of the Lagos metropolis.


Apart from the end users, some builders and sellers also feel the pinch of the continued hike in the price of cement. One of them, Mr Jude Onyeka, who sold cement at Oja Market in Orile-Iganmu, said that he had no choice but to transfer the burden of the extra cost incurred from middlemen to the consumers.


Onyeka noted that the middlemen hoarded cement in order to create artificial scarcity and consequently trigger a hike in the price of the product. He pleaded with the government to curb the trend.


For artisans like Dike Odunsi, a further increase in the price of cement might translate into several days at a stretch without a means of livelihood.


He said, “If cement is made available, there would be jobs for us and that means more money for my family. The high price affected me. There was no job coming and it was as if the builders suspended work on their buildings making us to go most of the days without jobs.”


A bag of cement was still selling at N2,900 at the Yakoyo end of Ojodu area on Friday.


In Yenagoa, builders and residents decried the rising price of cement in Bayelsa and asked the government to make the product affordable.


Investigations by our correspondent showed that a bag of cement in Yenagoa was sold at N1,900. The product had maintained a steady increase shortly after it was sold for N1,650 last August.


A sales representative in one of the shops, who identified himself simply as Eze, attributed the development primarily to the high cost of transport, just as a resident, Chinwe Anya, said it could “affect the average Nigerian economically.”


She said, ‘’How can people with average salaries build their own houses in a country where the price of cement is as high as N1900? Are they saying that those who do not have access to stolen funds can no longer own houses?’’


President Goodluck Jonathan had said on Monday during the President Media Chat that Nigeria would attain self-sufficiency in December.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201109173135354

Bayelsa N1900 while Lagos is N2,400
government na wa 4 una oo
South West were not given any High Position in this Administration
yet they still want to punish them with increment in Cement
make una 4give them nah

Johnpaul2k2:

Bayelsa N1900 while Lagos is N2,400
government na wa 4 una oo
South West were not given any High Position in this Administration
yet they still want to punish them with increment in Cement
make una 4give them nah

Abi oh!!!

As at Today 170911 a bag cost N1900 in Lagos.

that's the price Nigeria pays for having a representative on the Forbes list of richest men in the world.