*Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder/Executive Chairman of BUA Group, says his company ‘will keep crashing rice prices’, stating the cement manufacturers have also decided ‘to freeze cement prices for any contractor involved with the Renewed Hope project, or projects’ of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder/Executive Chairman of BUA Group, again, has pledged to reduce the retail prices of rice in Nigerian markets.

Rabiu stated this Thursday, May 15, 2025, shortly after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the State House, Abuja, FCT.

Photo collage of Abdul Samad Rabiu, Founder/Executive Chairman of BUA Group, and cement brands聽 聽 聽 Credit: Channels TV

绿帽献妻 reports Rabiu told State House Correspondents that his company would crashing rice prices in the country.

Reassuring consumers of keeping crashing retail rice prices, the Chairman of BUA Group also applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for granting waiver on imported food items, including rice, and commodities.

According to Rabiu, President Tinubu’s 鈥渇oresight鈥� helped to reduce food prices in Nigeria.

He also averred that BUA Foods implemented the policy, and was able to import quite a lot of wheat, maize and rice into the country.

The BUA Chief further explained: 鈥淎t the time food prices were really very high last year (2024).

“For example, the price of rice was about N100,000 or thereabout per 50 kilo bag.

“The flour was about N80,000 per bag and maize was about N60,000 per 50 kilo bag, and pasta above N20,000 per Carton.”

Rabiu recalled: “So what we did was, we keyed into that policy, and BUA was able to import quite a lot of wheat, maize and rice.

鈥淎nd the moment the shipment started coming, we started processing, we crushed the prices of some of these commodities.”

He asserted: “And today I鈥檓 happy to inform you that the price of rice is about N60,000 from what it was last year at N110,000.

“Flour is today N55,000 Naira per 50 kilo bag. Maize is about N30,000. “And this happened because of Mr President鈥檚 foresight and vision by introducing that one-off duty waiver for a period of six months, and with that, we鈥檝e been able to bring down the prices of these commodities.”

Cement manufacturers will support Renewed Hope projects: Rabiu, BUA Group Chair

In a related development, the cement manufacturers in Nigeria have agreed to freeze the price of cement for Renewed Hope Projects.

Rabiu also revealed the cement manufacturers’ have decided to maintain price stability is to support the President鈥檚 Renewed Hope Agenda.

Rabiu said the initiative would apply to any contractors involved with Renewed Hope projects across the West African country.

The Nigerian business mogul also stated: 鈥淎lhaji Aliko Dangote of Dangote Cement approached me, and I concurred with him that we should do everything to support Mr. President Renewed Hope Agenda.

“We have decided that we are going to freeze the price of cement for any contractor that is involved with the Renewed Hope project, or projects.”

He further said: 鈥淪o, what it means is that any company or anybody that is involved, or that is doing a project that is under Renewed Hope, the price of cement will be frozen. “There will be no increase for the foreseeable future. “We are doing that to support Mr. President鈥檚 renewed hope initiative. And that is something that Alhaji Aliko Dangote actually proposed.”

The industrialist asserted: 鈥淚 must say, I must give him credit, and I concur with him. So we鈥檝e agreed. “We are going to do that. We are going to send out the letter sometime next week to the ministry.

“And I also want to commend the Honourable Minister of Works, Engineer Umahi, for the initiative he took to ensure that all the roads are concrete roads.”

Rabiu said: 鈥淏ecause concrete roads are more durable, they take much longer, you know, in terms of durability. And the cost is going to be cheaper than even bitumen.鈥�

Can Nigerian consumers trust BUA to keep its word on price reductions?

Sequel to the latest announcment regarding price cuts for rice and cement, scores of Nigerian consumers again, have expressed reservations about BUA Group’s latest assurances of keeping its word on rice and cement prices in the markets.

Some product dealers and consumers in Agege, Ikeja and Lagos Island Friday, May 16, 2025, remarked the company once more, might renege on its announced promise of reducing prices of products, especially cement.

Many equally recalled how BUA Cement reportedly took them for a ride October 2023, when the company had announced that a bag of cement would sell for N3,500 only to give excuses for apparent failure to keep its word.

That was months after the Alhaji Rabiu had assured President Tinubu during a visit to the State House, Abuja, and Nigerian consumers at large of maintaining the cement price at N3,500.

Weeks later, nonetheless, a bag of cement sold for between N10,000 and N13,000 in most parts of Nigeria.

Roundly accused of engaging in deceptive pricing on its cement brand at the time, Kabiru Isyaku Rabiu, Group Executive Director (GED) of BUA Group February 2024, however, explained why the company’s much announced N3,500 ex-factory cement 鈥榩rice bonanza鈥� for consumers failed.

Kabiru, while answering a question about whether the BUA Cement price bonanza was actually delivered to consumers or not from October 2023 on a private TV station, said there was a price reduction for BUA Cement brand from N5,500 to N3,500 per bag from October 2 of the year.

He also acknowledged that consumers did not get the expected benefits, blaming failure on industry stakeholders the allegedly frustrated implementation of the 鈥榩rice gesture鈥�.

Investigations later revealed that there were complaints, particularly about the availability and apparent unchanged price of the product where available in limited quantities in most parts of the country despite BUA’s public announcement of the N3,500 price bonanza.

From individual cement consumers, products dealers, retailers, bricklayers to block moulders interviewed in several parts of Lagos and Ogun states, it was complaints galore about the near-unavailability of the cement brand, and or that a bag of BUA Cement still remained N5,500 as other brands since the Group Chairman鈥檚 announcement late September 2023 until recently.

Most consumers, especially established product retailers, block moulders, builders and construction engineers in several locations in Lagos and Ogun states simply dismissed even a mere mention of the company鈥檚 claimed 鈥榩roduct price bonanza of N3,500 at the time.

Why previous cement 鈥榩rice bonanza鈥� failed consumers: Kabiru, BUA GED

The company’s Group Executive Director, in the interview, insisted: 鈥淏UA Cement price reduction actually did happen.

“Our Chairman made the commitment, and we actually fulfilled the commitment by running it for five months.

鈥淲e reduced our cement across our plant to N3,500, but that was actually x-factory price.”

In regard to why BUA failed Nigerian consumers on the implementation of the price reduction, Kabir explained: 鈥淏ut, as you know, industries such as cement in Nigeria, when we do this kind of commitment, we were expecting other players to come along because if you look at the industry where we are operating our market share of 30-32%.

鈥淎nd for us to make this gesture, other players were not doing it, and turn out to be very difficult for it to be fully implemented.鈥�

Yet, he indirectly admitted the failure of the product price bonanza, stating, 鈥淎nd so, we ran the programme for almost five months, and because other players did not follow suit, the distributors and the middlemen began to take advantage of our gesture.

鈥淪o, what happened was that even though we were selling the cement at N3,500 in order to support the economy and the users, there was no direct benefit at least to the end users because other players were selling at previous higher prices.鈥�

He said: 鈥淚t turned out to be increasingly difficult for us to continue, and whilst we were doing that, the cost began to go up, and we were forced to change our position a little bit.

鈥淎nd while we were doing that we also discovered that some of our plants had some issues and that reduced production.

鈥淲e do not know whether it was by choice or it was a sort of maintenance, and so that put an enormous pressure on our cement supplies to meet the increasing demand and therefore, even widen the gap between what we were selling in the market x-factory and what the market was.鈥�

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