890 Dangote Cement workers out of job as plant remains shut

About 890 permanent and casual workers of the Dangote Cement plant, Gboko, Benue State, will  stay at home after the Yuletide holiday, as the plant remains closed, following poor sales caused by dumping of imported cement in the country.

The workers have been laid-off since the four million metric tons per annum Gboko plant was shut down early December, by the management over allegation that a local cement importer had dumped a sizeable quantity of cheap imported cement into the country, causing poor sales by local cement manufacturers.

Joseph Makoju, special adviser to the Dangote Group President, told Business Editors at the plant site in Gboko, that following the dumping and poor sales, the group had to adopt cost-saving measures to remain in business.
“One of such measures was to close the plant and lay-off the workers. We don’t know when they will return but we hope to re-open as soon as the environment is good for us to do so”, Makoju said. “You can all see that this plant was not shut down for turn-around-maintenance as is being alleged in some quarters”, he added.

Makoju, who is also president of  the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, said the 18.5 million tons of cement production target reached by local producers was at risk, unless the Federal Government imposes high tariff on imported cement.

“Yet the 18.5 million tons is representing just 65 percent of the present total installed capacity of the industry. Between 2002 and May 2012, a total of $6 billion in new investment was made by local manufacturers, while the on-going expansion and new plants  are estimated to cost another $3.5 billion. Due to continuous rapid growth, the nation no longer requires cement imports, as local demand is being effectively met and even surpassed”, he explained.

He said Nigerians were not feeling the impact of the reduction in price of cement as expected because of high cost of haulage and energy, adding “ energy cost accounts for over 35 percent of production cost and the price of low pour fuel oil (LPFO) has jumped up from N25 per litre in 2009 to N107.76 per litre as at November 2012, an increase of 331 percent”.

In a statement on Thursday however, Ibeto Group, the only firm approved by the Federal Government to import cement, said it imports only 1.5 million metric tons of cement   per annum into the country. The statement endorsed by the group executive director of strategy and public affairs, Ben Aghazu, published in some national dailies said there was no way the volume of cement  imported by the group could induce a glut in the market.