AbdulSamad Rabiu, the Chairman of BUA Cement, has expressed frustration over his company’s inability to maintain a planned price of N3,500 per bag of cement in 2023 due to the actions of cement dealers.

Rabiu explained that BUA Cement initially sold over a million tons of cement to dealers at the intended price of N3,500 per bag, with the expectation that the lower price would be passed on to consumers. However, he noted that dealers were instead selling the cement to consumers at prices ranging between N7,000 and N8,000 per bag, resulting in significant profit margins for the dealers.

Speaking in Abuja, Rabiu emphasized that the company was forced to discontinue the pricing policy because BUA Cement was not in the business of subsidizing dealers. He acknowledged that the company lacked control over pricing in the open market, making it difficult to regulate dealer behavior.

Rabiu stated, “Many of the dealers took advantage of our policy. Instead of passing on the low prices to customers, they were selling at double the price we offered them. We had sold more than a million tons at N3,500 before we realized what was happening.”

He further explained that the situation was exacerbated by the economic challenges Nigeria faced at the time, including the devaluation of the Naira and the removal of fuel subsidies, which made it impossible to sustain the lower price. Rabiu concluded, “We wanted that price to stay at that level, but the dealers refused. We could not continue because we did not want to end up subsidizing dealers, especially with the foreign exchange rate shifting from around N600 to nearly N1,800 to the US Dollar.”