He said going by the capacity build up within the local cement manufacturing circle, there was much hope that cement importation as a way of augmenting the shortfall in national demand and supply gap would end in the first nine months of 2012.

The reassurance was in line with an earlier promise to local cement manufacturers during a meeting he had with them a few months ago.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Lafarge Ewekoro 11 plant, popularly referred to as Lakatabu, Jonathan said the Federal Government had earlier promised to stop cement importation if the manufacturers could meet national demand. He added that with what was already on ground, this would become a reality in the not distant future, latest by the third quarter of 2012.

He said the government was committed to maintaining and sustaining the policy of backward integration to guarantee self sufficiency in the sector.

He, therefore, commended Lafarge for building the plant, stressing that the development had demonstrated the confidence the company had in the country.

Pledging the government’s support for the non-oil sector as a way of diversifying the nation’s economy, the President said the country was fast depleting its oil reserves. According to him, there is the need for rapid growth in other sectors of the economy.

“The manufacturing sector will continue to remain a focal point of the government with the aim of improving the local economy, thereby diversifying its resource base from oil to other sectors.

He said, “According to experts, our oil sector is gradually depleting, and in 35 years, things would definitely not remain the same in the sector. This is worrisome and it calls for the need to open up the private sector in order to make it more competitive and encourage more Foreign Direct Investment to boost our Gross Domestic Output.

“We are focusing on other aspects of the economy so that when the oil dries up, we will have other things to fall back on. We hope to develop other areas, like agriculture and manufacturing, so that we can become self sufficient.”

The Chairman, Lafarge WAPCO, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye, had earlier said the new plant would contribute N6bn yearly to the economy. He said this would be done through taxes and salaries. He also noted that the plant would create 1,000 additional jobs for Nigerians.

He added that having fulfilled the national desire to establish a cement manufacturing company, the company had made tremendous contributions to the availability of cement in the country.

He said the plant put the company at the forefront of exploration, production and marketing of cement in Nigeria.

Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, stressed the need for the company to consider its corporate social responsibility for the community as paramount, adding that payment of taxes should be considered a priority.

-Punch

Posted by admin on Dec 21 2011. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry