Federal Government Mediates in Dangote, Ibeto Cement War...

The Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment has stepped in to mediate in the battle between Dangote Cement Plc and Lafarge Plc, on the one hand, and Ibeto Cement Company Limited on the other, over the control of the nation’s cement market, THISDAY investigations have revealed.

For the past few weeks, local cement manufacturers led by Dangote Cement and French multinational Lafarge, and an importer of bulk cement, Ibeto Cement, have been at daggers drawn.

Dangote and Lafarge have accused Ibeto Cement of causing a crippling cement glut, which has led to the closure of the Gboko plant run by Dangote Cement and might force cement producers to lay off workers.

But Ibeto Cement has vehemently dismissed the claim, accusing them of being economical with the truth and insisted that the company’s five per cent share of the market could not have induced a glut.

It maintained that a glut would have resulted in a fall in the price of cement, which has not happened, and accused Dangote Cement of deploying a deceptive strategy to chase Ibeto Cement out of the cement market in a bid to strengthen its stranglehold on the market in all the regions of the country.
However, THISDAY gathered that the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, last week reached out to the two warring parties and other stakeholders in the cement industry and invited them to a meeting in Abuja today.

The objective of the minister is to mend fences between producers and importer(s) in order to protect the significant progress so far made in the cement industry through the Federal Government’s backward integration policy.

THISDAY gathered that as the battle between the two parties grew messier, Aganga reached out to both parties to encourage them to put a lid on the media warfare and join him in a meeting today to resolve their differences.

Speaking to THISDAY on the issue, Aganga said the meeting today is part of the regular consultations he holds with stakeholders in the sub-sector he described as a “key industry” in the economy.

“We meet and talk regularly, it is a growing sector and we are proud of what we have done in the sector. From around two million metric tonnes per annum in local cement production capacity, we have grown it to over 20 million metric tonnes per annum between seven and 10 years.

“From being a net importer of cement, we have grown to the point that my ministry did not issue out any import permit for cement in the whole of 2012. We have also helped the country to save over N200 billion in foreign exchange that could have gone into cement importation.

“More than two million jobs were created among a lot of other achievements. So I take the sector very seriously, I do meet with them regularly to make sure our objective for this industry is kept in focus,” the minister said.

Addressing the contention between Dangote Cement and Ibeto Cement, he noted that he had seen the varied publications of claims and counter-claims in the media and as the minister in charge of the sector he had since acted to bring the issue under control.

“I have heard the claims and counter-claims and I have engaged with all the stakeholders. My team is carrying out an independent assessment of the entire industry, which started just before the holiday season. We already have an interim report, which will be part of our discussions at the meeting,” he said.

According to Aganga, at the end of the entire review, the Federal Government would come up with a fresh strategic direction for the industry, which would have three major thrusts that include the enunciation of policies to help bring down the price of cement and make the commodity more affordable to Nigerians.

He said the second aspect is that he and his team are working on policies that will enhance the consumption of cement and lastly he pointed out that he is also working on policies that will open up the export market for cement produced in the country.
Also commenting on the meeting, a source close to Dangote Group said it was just a stakeholders’ meeting over which participants do not have much information until the meeting actually kicks off.