Cement Price Slash: BUA Group Again Fails To Redeem Promise

The BUA Group has again failed on its earlier promise to slash the price of it’s 50 kg bag of cement from N5,000 to N3,500.

It will be recalled the Group, on Sunday, October 1, 2023, announced the slashing of the price of 50kg cement from N5,000 to N3,500.

In what observers perceived as a politically motivated announcement, it was made to coincide with Nigeria’s 63rd Independence anniversary.

The announcement was made after the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration on May 29, 2023.

However, industry watchers at that time doubted the unrealistic promise of a price slash by BUA Group as a result of an unfriendly business environment.

A section of stakeholders accused the BUA Group and the owner of playing to the gallery while trying to impress the new government.

BUA was said to have used the new price of its products to ambush the Tinubu administration to be the sole supplier of cement to the new administration’s construction projects.

Stakeholders said though lobbying for the government’s contract was not a crime “the manner the BUA Group went about it was suspicious”.

The BUA Group went for the lobby with the impression of working for the masses and getting in the good books of the new government.

At that time, the priority of the generality of Nigerians was not erecting houses.

Indeed, people’s priority then was economic survival the harsh economy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

However, the BUA Group made sure the prices of its Flour and Spaghetti went out of reach for the poor masses.

Ironically, BUA made N100 billion in six months with only N10 billion tax that came out of its Sugar refinery in Lagos.

The rest are not taxable because they are in a free trade zone called the Bundu Free Trade Zone.

Though the nation’s economy is at its lowest ebb, it does not warrant BUA Group to indulge in arbitrary price increases on its products. Other companies such as Dangote are not hiking the prices of products the way the BUA Group does.

Stakeholders lamented that “The group’s reduction of the price of 50kg cement from N5,000 to N3,500 last year was even a hoax.

“It continued selling 50kg cement at N4,500 until February 1, 2024, when it raised it to N6,500. Of course, this is the Lagos price as of Sunday, February 4, 2024. It may be costlier elsewhere.

“But the bottom line is that BUA Group which has benefitted so much from the government’s tax incentives should consider the poor masses before hiking the price of its products, which are daily food for Nigerians.

The food protest in Kano over the weekend would have been avoided if the BUA Group had listened to the voice of reason.

It started when makers of local bread, popularly known as Gurasa, staged a peaceful protest in Kano following BUA Group’s increases in the prices of sugar, flour, and pasta barely two months before the Muslim fasting of Ramadan in March.

The protesters said that on Monday last week, they received a new price notification from BUA Group that took effect from February 1, 2024.

The peaceful protest took place at Jakara in Dala Local Government Area in Kano.

Now that the leader of the protesters who is also the chairperson of the Association of Women Gurasa Bakers, Fatima Auwal Chediyar, has threatened an indefinite strike over the high cost of flour in the country, BUA Group should rethink its decision to hike the prices of its commodities, especially with the Ramadan in the corner.

The new prices are not tenable now. Let the BUA Group allow the poor to breath.

BUA’s letter to dealers had read: “Dear Esteemed Partner due to the continued impact of Fx. Effective Thursday, 1st February 2024, the Management of BUA Foods Plc has reviewed the prices of  Sugar, Flour and Pasta  as follows:

Sugar:  Ex-Factory (Self-collection) Price = N66,000 per bag, Delivered Nationwide – Price  = N69,000 per bag;  Flour:  Ex-Factory (Self-collection) Price = N37,000 per bag, Delivered Nationwide – Price  = N40,000 per bag; Pasta: Ex-Factory (Self-collection) Price = N10,000 per carton, Delivered Nationwide – Price  = N10,500 per carton.