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Demand for cement will be driven by building of infrastructure and housing development, Executive Director, BUA Group, Kabiru Rabiu has said.
He also predicted that cement price will remain stable in the short term and gradually drop in the medium term.
He said the firm’s target is to increase its capacity to 10 million metric tonnes per year by 2018.
He said the company acquired a controlling stake at the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc, as well as Edo Cement. This is in addition to being one of the 13 companies given licences to bring in bulk cement into the local market.
On how the plant is powered, he said the company established 30 kilometres of gas pipeline to power their cement plant in Edo State.
Speaking at an investor conference, Rabiu said though BUA started as a trading company, importing rice, cement and flour, it later turned to a major integrated manufacturer of these products locally thereby creating thousands of jobs for in the country.
“The company started as a trading entity importing rice, edible oil, cement as well as flour into the Nigerian market. Over the years, it began the production of what it previously imported like edible oil as well as rice and flour milling,” he said.
He said by 2005, the firm established its first flour mill in Lagos, followed by another in Kano with 5.5 million tonnes milling capacity per day.
READ ALSO – “Cement standard is not responsible for building collapse”Also, in 2008, BUA Group set up the second-largest sugar refinery in sub-Saharan Africa, which is situated in Lagos with installed capacity of 720,000 metric tones, he added.
“At the moment, companies within the group are separate entities within different divisions. We have the Infrastructure division and then we have the foods division. In the infrastructure segment, we have cement, real estate, steel and port operations,” Rabiu said.
He explained that massive infrastructure projects, commercial and residential housing development will drive cement demand in Nigeria. The BUA boss said he learnt from informed sources that President Muhammdu Buhari’s administration planned to spend about $20 billion starting from next year on infrastructure.