BUA Blames Wholesalers For Preventing Nigerians From Buying Cement Bags For Approved N3500

The management of BUA Cement Company has explained the reasons why its cement was not sold at the promised ex-factory price of N3500 per bag.

Although the company said it honoured its pledge to reduce its price of cement to N3500, it accused the intermediaries and wholesalers whom the company said had prevented the intended recipients, the end-users, from accessing the reduced price.

It was reported in October 2023 that the Management of BUA Cement announced the reduction of ex-factory cement prices to N3,500 per bag, and would take effect from Monday, October 2, 2023.

The firm had in a statement published on its X account, said that the gesture was in keeping with the previous promise to reduce prices of Cement upon the completion of its new lines at the end of the year, in order to spur development in the building materials and infrastructure sectors.

BUA Cement didn’t stop slashing the price but also promised that all pending, undelivered orders which had been paid for at the old prices would be reviewed downwards to N3500/bag in line with the new pricing from October 2, 2023.

“Our licensed dealers are also enjoined to ensure that end-users benefit from this reduction in ex-factory prices as we will monitor field sales to ensure compliance,” it had warned.

Five months later, BUA Cement and indeed all other cement products rose to N12,000 to N13,000 per 50kg bag, a development that has cast doubt on the purported reduction of the price of cement by the company considering that its product had never been sold to N3,500 since October 2023. Instead of reducing it rose to an all-time high and sold N13,000.

Meanwhile, following threats from some civil rights organisations to picket the company for non-implementation of its avowed commitment and solemn promise to Nigerians to reduce the price of cement to N3,500 per 50kg bag, the company said no fulfillment was hindered by market forces.

The company’s clarification followed a seven-day deadline issued by two civil society groups to its management, demanding the sale of cement at N3,500 per bag or face the picketing of the company.

Mr. Timothy Sogbeinde, who oversees Creatives & Visual Identity management at BUA Group, in addressing the CSO picketing threats over the company’s alleged failure to deliver on its commitment to reduce the price of cement to N3,500, the company asserted that it had indeed honored that promise.

Sogbeinde shared that the company had been selling cement at an ex-factory price of N3,500 for several months before discontinuing the offer.

The executive director, Mr Kabir Rabiu said, “We actually sold our cement for three to four months at N3,500. We thought other players in the cement industry would join us in making the price of cement affordable.”

Kabir noted that BUA was unable to maintain the discounted price of N3,500, as the intermediaries and wholesalers prevented the intended recipients, the end-users, from accessing the reduced price.