Rising cost of cement will affect housing projects – FG cries out

The Federal Government has come out to state that the rising cost of cement poses a threat to the housing projects and plans of the government.

The minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, in a meeting with cement manufacturers in Abuja on Tuesday, February 20, said there has been 100 percent increment in the price of cement in the past few months.

He said the unfortunate situation poses a threat to housing delivery which is the main focus of the Ministry, and a priority of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

Dangiwa noted that the incessant hike had overtaken the country in the past few months, causing a 100 per cent rise in price from N5,500 to N10,000.

According to him, “This represents a 100 per cent rise, and it is not only on cement. we have also seen near-record high escalations in the prices of other building materials such as iron rods and other fittings.

An increase in essential building materials means an increase in the prices of houses. An increase in the cost of building houses means more and more Nigerians can no longer afford to own houses and provide decent shelter for themselves and their loved ones.

We know that some of the key components of producing building materials, especially cement, are locally sourced, so the recurring disproportionate increase in the price of cement is unacceptable and unreasonable. Key input materials such as limestone, clay, silica sand, and gypsum within our borders should not be dollar-rated.

You cannot continue to give excuses and blame it on the dollar all the time. The worst part is that other building materials manufacturers take a cue from cement manufacturers, and once they see that you increase your price, they do the same. Recently, this is happening almost every week, and it has to stop.

For example, if we were planning to build a one-bedroom apartment for about N8 million, it will now cost twice that much, about N16 million to build. If a Nigerian could afford to own a home of N8 million, it would now be impossible to do so. We are also aware of several persons who have had to suspend construction work because of this development.”