Business

“You lied” – FG lambasts cement manufacturers over hike in product price

Ahmed Dangiwa

The Eyewitness reporter

The Federal Government has picked holes in the reasons proffered by the cement manufacturers for the sudden jump in the price of the product.

It could be recalled that a few days ago, cement recorded an astronomical increase in price as the 50kg of the essential building materials climbed from N5000 to between N10,000 to N15,000, depending on the location in the country.

Concerned by the sudden hike, which has elicited uproar among already depressed Nigerians, the Federal government summoned the major cement manufacturers and other merchants of building materials in the country such as Dangote Cement, BUA and Lafarge, to an emergency meeting.

Addressing the manufacturers at the meeting, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, dismissed the reasons given by the cement manufacturers, describing them as untenable.

Whereas the manufacturers blamed the cost of gas and mining equipment for the hike, Dangiwa said key input materials for cement production such as limestone, clay, silica sand, and gypsum, sourced within the nation’s borders, should not be dollar-rated.

He said the price of gas that manufacturers are using as an excuse was not tenable because gas is a raw material found within the country.

The minister further declared that the excuse of an increase in mining equipment should not come up because equipment bought by the manufacturers has been used for decades and not purchased every day.

He however threatened that the federal government may be forced to throw open the borders and allow importation of cement to flood the Nigerian market in a bid to crash the prices of the community should the manufacturers refuse to reduce their prices.

He warned that the cement manufacturers should not push the government into taking this decision which he believed would push them out of business.

The minister said the border was closed to the importation of cement to help local manufacturers.

However, he noted that if the government decides to open the border for mass importation, prices of cement would crash and local manufacturers would be gravely affected.

The minister, who called on the manufacturers to be more patriotic, said BUA Cement, for instance, has been willing and is still willing as at the last time he spoke with them, to crash the price of their cement, lower than the N7000, N8000 agreed by the manufacturers and he sees no reason why the others should not do same.

“The challenges you speak of, many countries are facing the same challenges and some even worse than that but as patriotic citizens, we have to rally around whenever there is a crisis to change the situation.

“The gas price you spoke of, we know that we produce gas in the country. The only thing you can say is that maybe it is not enough.

“Even if you say about 50 percent of your production cost is spent on gas prices, we still produce gas in Nigeria. It’s just that some of the manufacturers take advantage of the situation.

“As for the mining equipment that you mentioned, you buy equipment and it takes years and you are still using it,” he said.

Earlier, Group Chief Commercial Officer of Dangote Cement, Rabiu Umar blamed the high cost of gas and mining equipment for the hike in cement price.

He said: “It is safe to say we are all Nigerians and we are all facing the current head weight that is happening. I would like to speak on the popular belief that most of the raw materials to produce cement are available locally.

“While we have limestone and in some cases, we have gypsum and some cases coal, the reality is that it takes a lot of forex-related items to produce cement.

Business

Taiwo Afolabi calls on African businesses to scale up their operations for global relevance

Gloria Odion, Maritime reporter

Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Chairman, SIFAX Group, has called on African entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders to prioritise the growth of large, sustainable corporations capable of competing globally, rather than operating fragmented and small-scale enterprises that limit the continent’s economic potential.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, Afolabi said Africa’s economic transformation would depend significantly on the emergence of strong indigenous corporations with the scale, structure, and capacity to drive industrialisation, create jobs, attract investment, and compete internationally.

According to him, discussions at this year’s forum reinforced the urgent need for African businesses to embrace collaboration, long-term thinking, regional integration, and strategic expansion.

He said: “Africa cannot achieve its full economic potential with thousands of weak and fragmented businesses operating in silos.

“What the continent needs are strong institutions and large corporations that can survive beyond their founders, scale across borders, attract global capital, and compete with the best companies around the world.”

Afolabi noted that while entrepreneurship remains critical to Africa’s growth story, the continent must deliberately move beyond subsistence and lifestyle businesses towards building enduring enterprises with robust governance systems, innovation capacity, and continental reach.

He stressed that African governments, financial institutions, and private sector stakeholders must create enabling environments that support business scalability through improved infrastructure, access to finance, favourable regulations, and intra-African trade.

“The conversations at the Africa CEO Forum clearly showed that Africa’s future lies in integration and scale.

“The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a historic opportunity for businesses to expand beyond national borders and build truly pan-African enterprises,” he added.

Afolabi noted that SIFAX Group’s long-term vision is anchored on strengthening intra-African trade and supporting the successful implementation of AfCFTA through investments in logistics, ports, transportation, and digital finance solutions across Africa.

Business

National Single Window goes live in March, 2026

– as FG launches phase 1 of the project for trade facilitation

Funso OLOJO

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the commencement of Phase 1 of the National Single Window (NSW) Project, scheduled to launch on March 27, 2026.

The launch marks a decisive step toward reforming Nigeria’s trade ecosystem through technology, transparency, and smarter regulation.

The National Single Window is a centralised digital platform designed to simplify and harmonise trade procedures by enabling traders to submit trade-related information once,

through a single interface, while relevant government agencies access, process, and approve the required documentation seamlessly.

The initiative is expected to significantly reduce delays, eliminate duplication, curb inefficiencies, and lower the cost of doing business at Nigeria’s ports and borders.

Speaking on the transformative potential of the project during the inauguration of the project on the 16th of April 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described the National Single Window as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s trade and economic reform agenda.

“The National Single Window will change the way trade is done in Nigeria. It will replace fragmentation with coordination, opacity with transparency, and delay with efficiency,” says Presidency.

The President added that the NSW aligns with the administration’s commitment to

economic diversification, non-oil export growth, and improved ease of doing business, noting that efficient trade systems are critical to national development.

Also speaking on the initiative, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, described the National Single Window as a game-changer that will simplify and

democratize trade in Nigeria.

Dr. Oduwole explained that the platform will streamline trade documentation through a unified window, enabling greater transparency, improved transaction tracking, and

increased trade volumes.

She added that experienced traders, in particular, would benefit from the efficiency gains offered by the system.

Providing insight into the implementation strategy, Mr. Tola Fakolade, Director of National Single Window Project, explained that the Federal Government has deliberately adopted a phased rollout approach, beginning with Phase 1, which will focus primarily on statutory permits and manifests.

“The National Single Window will be rolled out in phases, starting with Phase 1, which concentrates on statutory permits and cargo manifests,” Mr. Fakolade stated.

“This allows us to stabilise the system, build confidence among stakeholders, and deliver immediate value where bottlenecks are most pronounced.”

According to Mr. Fakolade, the decision to phase the launch reflects lessons learned from previous large-scale technology initiatives that adopted a “big bang” approach.

“We have learned from the flaws of past big bang technological rollouts, where attempting to do everything at once created avoidable disruptions,” he noted.

“Phasing the National

Single Window is a deliberate and strategic choice—one that prioritises sustainability, user adoption, and continuous improvement over speed for speed’s sake.”

He further emphasized that subsequent phases will gradually expand the scope of the platform, onboard additional agencies, and deepen integration across the trade value chain, ensuring a resilient and scalable system.

“This approach ensures that the National Single Window grows with the ecosystem, guided by real data, user feedback, and operational realities,” Mr. Fakolade added.

As Phase 1 goes live, the Federal Government reaffirmed its commitment to working closely with the private sector, development partners, and trade stakeholders to ensure a smooth

transition and shared ownership of the reform.

“By simplifying trade processes and leveraging digital innovation, we are unlocking faster movement of goods, strengthening revenue assurance, and creating a more competitive

environment for Nigerian businesses to thrive locally and globally.” Mr. Fakolade added.

With the launch of the National Single Window, Nigeria takes a bold and pragmatic step towards modern trade governance—one that places efficiency, transparency, and learning at the heart of national progress.

Business

Access bank laments cargo glut, financial losses to importers caused by its service glitch

– restores customs transactions on its platform

Gloria Odion

Access Bank Plc has expressed its regret over the accrued demurrages to importers, cargo glut at the port which the temporary disruption of its services on its ACCESS PAY(B’Odogwu) platform has caused majority of importers and their agents.

The bank’s interactive platform with Customs went down for three days between November 10th to 12th, 2025, causing agony and anguish among the freight forwarders who could not conduct transactions on the platform with the Customs, resulting to mounting demurrages and cargo glut at the port.

However in a statement made available to newsmen, the bank confirmed the restoration of its customs transaction services and urged its distraught custom to come forward with their Customs payment.

Access bank further explained that the glitch occured due to a connectivity issue between Access Bank’s network and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) system.

The glitch temporarily hindered the processing of payments and related transactions via the ACCESS PAY (B’ODOGWU) platform.

“The issue was fully resolved on November 12th, 2025, and normal service operations have since been completely restored.

“Customers can now process Customs-related payments and transactions seamlessly through Access Bank channels,” the statement read.

The bank expressed regret over the inconvenience caused, acknowledging that the downtime led to delays and concerns among customers, particularly regarding demurrage charges.

Access Bank assured stakeholders that proactive measures have been put in place to prevent a recurrence, reiterating its commitment to service reliability and customer satisfaction.

“Access Bank appreciates the patience and understanding of its customers during the period of disruption and thanks them for their continued trust and partnership,” the statement concluded.

However, despite the service restoration by the bank, its customers are still aggrieved over what they described as unwarranted extra charges in form of accrued demurrages which they were made to incur and which they claimed have added additional costs to the clearing of their trapped cargo at the port.