By Miracle Ogunde
Foremost Nigeria’s company and cement manufacturer, Dangote Group has denied being responsible for hike in cement and price nationwide.
An Executive Director of the Dangote Group of Companies, Hajiya Fatima Aliko Dangote, stated this during an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC.
Hajiya Fatima claimed that the Dangote Group of Companies was unaware that cement was retailed at N15,000 in the markets, saying the price of 50kg would be around N7,000 to N8,000 depending on the location.
She also clarified that the company is not responsible for the rising prices of food items being experienced nationwide.
According to Hajiya Fatima, the group had sold the food processing company five years ago to Olam Group which processes food and agric-business in Nigeria.
She explained that Olam is now the producer of flour, pasta, semolina, and every flour product in the markets is not produced by the Dangote Group.
“In the concession agreement, it was agreed that they would continue using our brand name for their products, and hopefully by next year, they will stop.
“For consumables, we’re only producing sugar, salt, and Dangote classic seasonings. Again, we hope to start producing rice later this year or next,’’ she noted.
Fatima added that they are not comfortable with the way prices are hitting the rooftop which the group cannot control, while hoping that things will stabilise soon.
When asked whether the group is considering lowering the prices, she said, “We’re not responsible for the price hike… we buy the raw sugar in dollars from Brazil; they don’t sell to us in naira. The same thing with the crude salt and every other thing, that’s the issue. It’s only cement that we get its raw materials in Nigeria. But its processing chain lies in dollars; the trucks that ferry the product, gas, tires, and spare parts are all in dollars.’’
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