Housing Minister To Meet Cement Manufacturers Over Rising Price
The Ministry of Housing of the Federal Government will meet with major cement manufacturers and other top suppliers of building materials nationwide
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, has revealed plans to meet with manufacturers of cement and other building materials in the country in a bid to stem the incessant rising cost of their products and enhance the delivery of affordable housing.
The initiative aims to address the nation's rising costs of cement and other building materials by offering interventions.
The Federal Government has finalized plans to meet with the nation's cement and other building material manufacturers, according to Minister of Housing and Urban Development Ahmed Musa Dangiwa on Thursday.
He said that by doing this, the price of cement and other building supplies would stop steadily rising and the supply of affordable housing in Nigeria would be improved.
Dangiwa made these remarks during a courtesy call by a delegation of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) to his office, according to a statement provided by the Special Adviser on Media to the minister, Mark Chieshe, in Abuja.
“It is disheartening to see how much Nigerians have to pay for essential building commodities like cement, with the prices rising almost daily. I don't understand the reason for this increase, and it is not acceptable.
He questioned why the price of cement in particular was always rising disproportionately, given that the nation's cement manufacturers source almost all of their raw materials locally.
“I am going to be meeting with these manufacturers soon so that they can explain to Nigerians their reasons for such incessant hikes. I know that the cement producers source their raw materials in Nigeria; timestone, clay, silica sand, gypsum, iron ore, and the rest. These minerals abound in Nigeria and these manufacturers get them here, so there is no justification to try and blame it all on the rise of the dollar,” he said.
Also, Dangiwa gave the delegation assurances regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration's commitment to give low- and medium-income earners, as well as the most vulnerable members of society, decent and affordable housing and livable communities. According to him, this also entails establishing favorable conditions for the private sector to flourish, such as guaranteeing the accessibility and affordability of building materials.
Recall that the Ministry established the Building Materials Reform Task Team in January as part of its initiatives to grow the building materials sector by setting up Building Materials Manufacturing Hubs in each of the nation's six (6) geopolitical zones.
In an effort to promote affordability, the minister stated that even though the hubs have not yet gone live, it is still necessary to communicate with industry participants like producers of building materials.
Speaking of the FMBN's partnership with Organized Labor, Dangiwa emphasized the need for the FMBN to innovate and reform its operations. He also called on the NLC, TUC, and NECA to view the Bank and the National Housing Fund (NHF) Scheme as their own, and to support and encourage the organization in its efforts to provide members with decent housing.
“The truth is that despite FMBN's inadequacies, which we are working to address, there is no other home ownership platform that can provide housing to the segment of Nigerians whom you represent at the terms and conditions that the FMBN provides.
“From the single-digit interest rate on loans ranging from 6-7 percent versus the commercial rates of 18-24 percent in commercial housing loans, to long tenors of 30-years versus 5-to-10-year commercial tenors, zero to maximum 10 percent equity versus 30 percent equity for commercial loans, FMBN is an institution that requires the support of all stakeholders so that it works. There is no alternative,” he said.
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