The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has described the recent remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives on cement price which portrayed cement manufacturers in very bad light as not desirable and uncalled for in view of the prevailing economic whirlwinds in the economy.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the private sector advocacy group, Dr. Muda Yusuf, in a statement recalled that during the debate over the rising price of cement during plenary, legislators in the lower chamber of the National Assembly alleged that the manufacturers were exploitative even as others described the manufacturers as unpatriotic as they engaged in arbitrary fixing of cement price.
He noted that the comments by the lawmakers were considered by the CPPE to be most unfair to investors in the cement sector, especially when the perspectives of the cement manufacturers had not been heard by the members of the house.
Yusuf expressed concern that some of the remarks at the session were capable of inciting the public against the cement manufacturers and putting their huge investments at risk, warning that it is a dangerous thing to do, given the huge stake they have in the Nigerian economy and their enormous contributions to the economy.
The CPPE boss said: “We plead with the leadership of the House to ensure moderation in the use of language to avoid adverse consequences for investors in the economy, going forward.
“It is even more troubling that the members have not listened to the manufacturers before rushing to judgment and castigating the manufacturers. Cement manufacturers were disparaged, denigrated and portrayed as deliberately inflicting pains on the Nigerians by arbitrarily increasing the price of cement. This is most unfair in our humble opinion. Such weighty allegations should be premised on painstaking study, empirical facts and evidence. The dimensions of the pricing dynamics need to be properly understood.
“For an economy seeking to industrialize, attract investors and create jobs, such commentaries represent negative signaling. Principles of fairness demands that the cement manufacturers should be given an opportunity to tell their own story before members could come to fair conclusion and judgement. But regrettably, they have been judged publicly, before giving them the opportunity to present their own side of the story. We believe this is a breach of the norms and standards of fairness and equity.
“It is even more painful because the major players in the sector are indigenous companies making giant strides amidst a very difficult operating environment including the multitudes of macroeconomic and structural headwinds. They have created hundreds of thousands of jobs [directly and indirectly], and paid billions of naira in taxes. This is coupled with numerous corporate social responsibility initiatives to which they have committed billions of naira. These are facts that we should appreciate.
“The business of manufacturing is perhaps the most challenging enterprise in the contemporary Nigerian economy. Many foreign firms in that space have either exited the country or downsized their operations” he added.
Yusuf appealed to the National Assembly to always extend due courtesies to investors in the economy in the course of their legislative duties as private sector plays a very critical role in the economy and account for over 80% of the country’s GDP, about 90% of the employment and over 70% of the government revenue.
According to him, the private investors deserve to be addressed with respect, courtesy, civility and fairness without prejudice to the imperative of compliance with extant laws and regulations as well as responsible corporate citizenship by the investors.
While pointing out that cement production is highly energy intensive with gas being the major energy source and the logistics cost of cement distribution is humongous, given the escalating cost of diesel and the state of the roads, among other cost-embedded factors, Yusuf stressed that matters of this nature required painstaking and thorough investigation to determine the pricing dynamics and the ramifications of the factors driving prices. This is critical to avoid hasty and emotional conclusions.
