Federal Government to ban cement imports, Nigeria

With the promise by the Federal Government to ban the importation of cement in 2006, the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has said that the country stands to earn over N39bn in foreign exchange by exporting the commodity.

Speaking with journalists Dangote allayed the fears that the situation could lead to a galloping increase in the price of the commodity.

"The gap that will be created by the ban would have been closed before then," he assured.

According to him, "cement is a dynamic product which can force demand to increase rapidly," but he was certain that before that period, cement would be sufficient.

His said: "The demand can move rapidly, especially now that the oil price is at N40 per barrel. The only gap we have now is about 8Mt of which we at Dangote Group will be able to produce 7.8Mt by October 2005, which is the real gap that we have."

To achieve the projection, he stated that his outfit had started work at its Obajama factory in Kogi State.

"We have also started the reactivation of the Benue Cement Factory. It will be completed by the end of September this year; we have gone very fast. Benue Cement will produce about 2.7Mt before the end of next year. Obajama will produce about 5Mt," he added.