The Northern Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has expressed concern about the country’s continued rise in cement prices.
The youths observed that the commodity’s continued rise is intended to turn poor Nigerians into destitutes in their own country.
The council’s President, Comrade Isah Abubakar, stated that the group was taken aback by Dangote Cement’s declaration of over N500 billion profit before tax and over N350 billion profit after tax.
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It went on to say that the declared amount is a sobering reminder of how Nigerians and the country are being ripped off and raped by a monopolist who enjoys government protection and patronage.
The youths lamented that the average price of a 50kg bag of cement in the country has since risen, claiming that it is now sold at more than 240 percent more than the global average price of the commodity.
“Looking inward, Northern Nigeria, where Dangote is from, has a larger portion of this poverty and other frightening negative economic and social variables,” the statement added.
Rather than making things easier for Nigerians, the statement claimed that Alhaji Aliko Dangote is going out of his way to ensure that poor Nigerians become destitute in their own country due to his continued inflation of commodity prices over which he has control.
According to the statement, as Muslims around the world prepare to begin Ramadan fasting, Abdulsamad Isiyala Rabiu, the CEO of BUA, revealed Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s plan to mastermind the increase in the price of sugar on every poor Nigerian’s table.
According to the statement, as stakeholders in the Nigeria project and a voice for the voiceless northerners, the group should be pleased that their son is making tremendous progress and holding the title of Africa’s richest man, even as poverty in his home country worsens, leading to increased insecurity.
The group urged members of the National Assembly and key policymakers to ensure that companies that continue to make outrageous profits demonstrate evidence of cooperative social responsibility commensurate with their earnings.
It stated that, in light of the rising price of cement, which has resulted in an increase in the rent of most houses, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must lift the ban on cement imports so that healthy competition, rather than “heartless capitalism devoid of empathy,” determines the price of the commodity in the markets.
