On Monday, July 1, five cement manufacturers boycotted a scheduled meeting with Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond, regarding discussions on a proposed Legislative Instrument (LI) aimed at regulating cement prices.
The manufacturers—Dangote, Supacem, Ghacem, Diamond Cement, and CIMAF—declined to attend the meeting, stating their preference for closed-door discussions.
This development coincides with manufacturers’ strong opposition to the LI’s provisions for regulating cement prices.
However, speaking at a subsequent press conference, Minister K.T. Hammond affirmed his resolve to proceed with laying the LI before Parliament on Tuesday, July 2, expressing determination despite the manufacturers’ absence from the meeting.
“This was not supposed to be a press conference. It was supposed to be a meeting with the cement manufacturers.
You will recall that in the last few days, I didn’t quite lay a document, but I have given an indication of my intention to lay an LI, which will relate to the pricing of cement in the country.
“I am not sure, but I suspect that in my absence, the majority leader may have sent it out. I haven’t been able to ascertain what exactly happened, but somehow it has gone all over the country that we are trying to lay an LI…I am going to do it; we didn’t do it on this occasion.
“The story out there is that the NDC prevented us; that is not true…I just gave a copy to my leader, the majority leader, concerning what I had in mind.
But since that time, there have been so many complaints that I hadn’t consulted with the stakeholders before trying to lay the LI as they claim. I have refuted that on the various platforms.
“Consultation with these players has continuously been taking place. On a specific occasion, when I inaugurated a committee that was going to be responsible for this price regulation, I charged the manufacturers and their respective associations to be mindful of pricing cement in the country.
We’ve asked them to publish the expatriate prices for us to have an idea into how much they are going to sell a bag of cement,” he said.
