Nigerians are complaining again as the price of cement keeps going up, even though companies like Dangote and BUA earlier promised to reduce it. People are frustrated that these promises have not been kept.
Recent checks show that a 50kg bag of cement now sells for between N9,500 and N12,000, depending on where you buy it. This is a big jump from March 2025, when the price dropped to N7,800, down from N15,000 in February 2024.
Back in May 2025, major cement makers in Nigeria, including BUA and Dangote, promised to lower the price of cement to support President Bola Tinubu’s housing initiative. But months later, the prices are still high and even rising.
Reports from Abuja and other states show that the price of cement has increased by between 28% and 53%. This increase is seriously affecting the building industry, pushing up the cost of house rent and property prices.
One of the concerned citizens, Benjamin Udoka, said it’s painful that Dangote did not apply the same effort he used to help reduce petrol prices to the cement industry. He said a bag of cement now costs N11,000 in some parts of Abuja, calling the situation “pathetic.” He asked the government to control cement prices so people can afford rent.
Another resident, Maryam Abubakar from Dawaki, agreed with Benjamin. She also wants the government to step in and help reduce prices.
Speaking to DAILY POST, Aliyu Wamakko, a former national president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), blamed the issue on poor communication between the government and cement companies, along with a lack of price control.
He explained that cement demand has gone up because more people are building houses, and the government is also using cement for road construction. According to him, this demand is more than supply, which naturally pushes the price higher.
Wamakko also pointed out that since 70% of cement raw materials are found in Nigeria, the price should not be this high. He suggested that the government should meet with cement companies like it did in March to find a solution.
He stressed that cement should be used mainly for building homes, not roads, to reduce pressure on supply. He also mentioned that other materials from refinery waste can be used for roads instead.
Wamakko said the government must bring back price control policies to reduce the burden on Nigerians. He added that high cement prices automatically lead to high house rent and expensive properties.
When DAILY POST tried to contact the Dangote Group’s spokesman, he declined to comment. Also, efforts to reach the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) were not successful.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that overall inflation had dropped to 22.97%, and food inflation was also going down. But house rent is still rising.
In Gwarimpa, Abuja, rent for a single-room apartment has gone up from N700,000 to N1.5 million per year. Many people believe that this sharp increase is due to the high cost of building materials like cement.
President Tinubu’s housing project, which was meant to provide over 3,000 new homes, started in February last year but has not been completed.
At the same time, the Senate’s investigation into cement price hikes, which started in 2024, has not led to any real change, leaving Nigerians worried and helpless.
