Dagote Cement, BUA, IBETO, and other stakeholders have been issued a 14-day ultimatum to attend a hearing before the House of Representatives Joint Committee to address the recent increase in cement prices in the country.
The ultimatum was given following the producers’ absence at the investigative hearing held on Tuesday.
The joint committee, comprising the House committees on solid minerals, Commerce, Industry, and Special Duties, was established to investigate the sudden rise in cement prices by Nigerian manufacturers.
In addition to the companies, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, was summoned to appear before the committee after failing to attend the initial hearing.
The committee mandated the minister’s appearance on Tuesday, May 21, while Dangote, BUA, IBETO, and others are required to be present on Monday, May 20, 2024.
Chairman of the joint Committee and also the Chairman of the Committee on Solid Minerals, Rep. Jonathan Gaza Gefwi, criticized the companies for disregarding the invitation, stating that their actions demonstrate a lack of concern for the welfare of Nigerians.
In his opening remark at the sitting on Tuesday, Gefwi said that a review of cement prices in other countries, such as Kenya, India, and Zambia, for 2021 alone showed that Nigeria had the highest price of cement using the official exchange rates for each country.
He said, “Nigeria’s price of cement doubles that of India at a difference of 69%; similarly, the price is 29% higher than that in Kenya and 39% higher in Zambia. Hence, the need for us to come together and find out why, in order to bring succour to our citizens while protecting investors alike.
“Our concern is for all legitimate businesses, especially cement production companies in Nigeria, to thrive and deliver their objective and services to the people in such a manner that can foster development.”
The chairman of the joint committee reiterated the significance of the public hearing and stressed the necessity to downplay the perception propagated by certain companies involved in the investigation that parliamentary committees lacked the authority to summon private entities.
He added, “It is on record that there is no Order of the Courts presented restraining the committee from exercising its functions under section 88(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution as Amended.
“The committees of parliament have always set up public hearings to extract evidence from the public to guide it in taking decisions on matters that have a direct bearing on the citizens such as this.
“However, an entity recognised as private under the Law, does not oust in entirety the Powers of the Committee to investigate its affairs especially when the attainment of the objectives of said entity heavily relies on the Resources of the populace.
“Let me also reiterate the objectives of the Legislative Powers and Privileges Act sections 4,5,6 and 7 on the Powers of committees to invite, investigate and summon any person for the purpose of extracting evidence on any matter, whether it’s public or private. Most especially when the matter affects the citizens and the people for which they represent”.
In his remark, the Chairman of the House Committee on Commerce, Ahmed Munir, stressed that the absence of any invited entity from the joint committee would support the claims that the increase in cement prices was a deliberate move to burden Nigerians and hinder the government’s initiatives to address the nation’s housing shortage.
