BUA Group chairman, AbdulSamad Rabiu has reiterated that the company would maintain its promise of selling cement at the price of N3,500 from January 2024
The billionaire business mogul made the pledged again while speaking with State House Correspondents after a visit to President Bola Tinubu on Thursday in Lagos.
He said the company would also make the product accessible and affordable to customers despite various challenges.
“You know the price that we have set will be N3,500 per bag. You know that the factory price of course plus VAT and then delivered to customers depending on the region.
“As you know, the factories that we have; one is in Edo, the other one is in Sokoto state. So for example, if you want us to deliver cement to you from Sokoto say to Lagos from Adamawa or to Maiduguri, the distance is quite far.
“So dependent on the distance and dependent on the location. You know the price changes but we intend to keep that promise,” he said.
Rabiu added that the cement company site in Sokoto that would be inaugurated by January 2024 is expected to further expand the market across the country.
“And as we all know, the volumes that we will be having will be about six million tonnes per annum combined. And we expect those volumes to have an impact.
“Though we’re having some issues here and there, these are issues that I believe we can address and we are addressing them.”
Rabiu said his visit to the President was to felicitate with him on the Christmas and New Year festivities, adding that it was a pleasant one.
Beyond the humdrum of gossip and news reports about his visit to President Tinubu, Rabiu’s gesture resonates as a well-thought-out panacea to the rising cost of cement. His recent declaration further affirms that there is more beauty than our eyes can see by just merely looking at the BUA Chairman. That by his presence in Nigeria, in this epoch, a precious gift has been accorded Nigeria and to do nothing to acknowledge this is to do great harm.
Indeed, only a kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal. And being a man of compassion and courage, Rabiu persistently endeavours to make himself useful to his immediate acquaintances as well as large segments of the masses.
When it comes to giving, Rabiu stops at nothing. Ultimately, he reignites by his deeds, the timeless words of Churchill who said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
And to make a life? If you were Abdul Samad Rabiu, one of the most generous men in Africa, you’d give fantastic sums of money; you’d also give the brainpower that helped him make that money in the first place, hunting down the best ideas for where to fight, how to focus, what to fund.
If you possess a generous heart, like Rabiu, you would give money, reduce the price of cement and shine the light on problems that grow in shadows.
If you’re Rabiu, you would dole out money for humanitarian causes –but you will also project the symbols of power and the power of symbols.
So doing, you’d become a role model for unlikely partnerships of the kind that progress demands, partnerships among doctors, pastors, moguls, lawyers, activists, tribal chiefs health ministers and all the frontline angels of mercy everywhere.
One of the few feel-good stories since Nigeria’s descent to the doldrums has been the resilience of charitable giving even in tough times. In Nigeria, while several of his peers tighten their fists against a spike in inflation and the cost of living squeeze, Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu has chosen to increase both his random and premeditated acts of generosity.
Rabiu’s charitable impulse is unrivalled. The Indonesian concept of the joint bearing of burdens — gotong royong — may be why Indonesia tops the CAF’s World Giving Index for the sixth year in a row. But the world’s most generous givers on a range of measures include individuals and groups in the US, and countries with comparatively meagre resources, such as Liberia Kenya, and Nigeria.
Rabiu undoubtedly puts Nigeria on the world map of nations endowed with a handful of men with a heart of gold.
