The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives has started investigating what it refers to as the undue rise in cement prices in the country.
The industry's major producers, including Dangote Cement Company and Lafarge Africa PLC, have been required to provide paperwork explaining their production costs to justify the present cement market pricing.
The committee, chaired by Rep. Jonathan Gaza (APC-Nasarawa), agreed to visit these companies' production facilities after reviewing their financial records.
The purpose is to estimate the cost of production and determine a fair cement price for all Nigerians.
Gaza made this claim at a public hearing in Abuja on Friday. He noted that the committee is interested in the cost of production from 2020 to the present, as cement prices have risen above N10,000 in several parts of the country.
He said that the companies have been asked to provide detailed information on their average daily consumption of coal, gas, gypsum, limestone, clay and laterite, as well as their average daily cement production from 2020 to the date.
He further stated that they must disclose information on all imported components for cement production, including prices, as well as domestic components and costs in both naira and dollars.
Rep. Dabo Ismail (APC-Bauchi State), a committee member, stated that Dangote Cement Company is successfully making considerable profits despite sourcing the majority of its raw materials locally.
Dabo stated that the company generated a profit of N524 billion in 2022, N553 billion in 2023, and has already generated a whooping N166.4 billion in 2024.
In response, Mr. Arvind Pathack, Group Managing Director of Dangote Cement Company, stated that 95 percent of production costs are imported or linked to foreign exchange.
Pathack quoted a 100 to 333% increase in the price of major cement raw materials such as gas, AGO, gypsum, imported coal, spare parts, new trucks, and tyres.
He further stated that the company pays in dollars for certain contracts to obtain gas and explosives due to limited provision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
