Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Days after its merger with Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) Plc was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian court, the management of BUA Group, which operates Kalambaina Cement, has announced signing a deal to build a new cement factory in Sokoto State.
The cement plant will be constructed by Sinoma CBMI, world’s renowned cement manufacturing company, and will have a capacity of three million metric tonnes per annum.
The new plant will be added to BUA Group’s current cement assets; the six million MTPA Obu Cement I & II plants in Okpella, Edo State, the 500,000mtpa Edo Cement Plant, the 1.5million MTPA Kalambaina Cement Plant and the 500,000 Sokoto Cement Plant, bringing its total installed capacity to 11 million MTPA when completed.
BUA Group, which owns over 90 percent stake in CCNN Plc, is widely acclaimed for its high capacity utilisation, efficiency and quality of its products.
Executive Chairman/CEO of BUA Group and Chairman of CCNN, Mr Abdul Samad Rabiu, said the construction of the new factory was in line with BUA Cement’s strategic midterm expansion programme.
He said the Nigerian market was still greatly underserved and with the projected growth in major infrastructure projects and spending over the next few years, it is important that local manufacturers are able to scale effectively to meet current and projected demand.
Mr Rabiu added that this partnership between BUA and Sinoma CBMI was not the first as they were responsible for constructing the first BUA Kalambaina plant in Sokoto State.
“We are very confident that Sinoma CBMI possesses the necessary technical expertise given their track records in deploying cement plants across the world,” he said.
On BUA becoming Nigeria’s second largest cement producer by volume, Mr Rabiu said that BUA’s strategic cement expansion programme which focused on key regional and export markets has seen it become the second largest producer of cement by volume in Nigeria this year whilst solidifying BUA Cement’s leadership positions in the North-west, South-south and South-east markets of Nigeria. “We will continue to deliver quality products which has earned us the King of Strength and King of Cement moniker amongst block makers who form the largest users of cement in Nigeria,” he said.
