The Federal Government of Nigeria yesterday gave a 30-day ultimatum to cement manufacturers in the country to bring down cement prices.

Speaking during a meeting with cement manufacturers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the president said the decision to bring down the price of the product “is to make it more accessible to Nigerians”.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, Ima Niboro, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, said the manufacturers had agreed to do all that was necessary to meet the one-month deadline given by the president.
 


“The president is worried about the situation. He is not happy about it and he wants the price to come down,” Niboro said. 

Josephine Tapgun, minister of state for commerce, told newsmen that the stakeholders all agreed that there was an urgent need for the price of cement to come down.


According to Tapgun, they all agreed that the price must come down “and all stakeholders have agreed that there must be changes in the price of cement in Nigeria”.


Joseph Makoju, president of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN); Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Group; Abdulsamad Rabiu, chairman of BUA Group and Jean-Christophe Barbant, country manager of Lafarge Cement, all assured that prices would come down before the deadline expired.