Councillor Tayo Situ, the Nigerian-born London Mayor in the Borough of Southwark, London South-East is dead. He was representing Peckham Ward. According to the Councillor’s spokesman and Publicity Secretary, Councillor Situ breathed his last breath at about 23:00 hrs, on Monday May 9, 2011 after a brief illness.

“With a grieved heart but thanks to God Almighty, I confirm that the once energetic, compassionate, servant leader and former number one citizen of London Borough of Southwark, Councillor Tayo Adelani Situ, departed this sinful world, to meet his creator at 23:01 Hours, last night, 9 May 2011, after a brief illness”, Mr Amos Akin Adejinmi announced on Tuesday morning.

His latest public engagement would have been the reception of Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who arrived to receive a bequeathed honour from his domain, Borough of Southwark about ten days ago. By then, his health had waned which led to his eldest son playing host to the visiting governor.

“He is survived by his wife, five children (which includes set of twins) and two grand children,” added the statement issued by Mr Adejinmi. The Nigerian community in London has been mourning the illustrious Nigerian who has found his name in the history book of British politics as a Mayor.

Tayo Situ has stamped Nigeria’s emblem in the body politic of British politics and has represented the voice of Nigerian community as a councillor for long in London South-East Borough of Southwark. He hails from Iwo in Osun State and assumed his mayoral post just after last year’s British election, having been denied the position four years earlier after political events in the Borough favoured another party.

He was promptly installed with his party, Labour’s victory in the Borough just May last year. His spell in politics started in 2002 when he contested for the Peckham ward councilorship in the Southwark Council on the platform of the Labour Party and won to make representation for his ward. He has since been a major force of reckoning due to his political activities and humane representation, demonstration of humility, astuteness, loyalty and passionate servitude.

A councillor in Peckham since 2002, the Mayor came to the UK from Nigeria in 1985. He studied accountancy at South Bank University and ran his own business. As a Councillor, his priorities were to see more jobs for local people and better services for the young and vulnerable. He lived locally and was a trustee and elder of his church. He was a devoted husband, father to five children and also a grandfather. His wife Mrs Abike Situ is consort and his son Michael is also a councillor.

According to Adejimi, funeral arrangement for the departed will be communicated to his teaming fans across the world as soon as it is concluded. However, three condolence registers have been opened for the likable councillor who had impacted on the life of many in his doming, Southwark Council.

Councillor Situ assumed his mayoral duty last year just after the general election. He had been a major actor in the Southeast politics influencing the life of many other communities. Africans will always remember him for serving their interests. He will be seriously missed by all his close associates, youths alike and political rivals with whom he had had the privilege of impacting in their lives.

Welding galvanized steel is common in the metal fabricating industry. Most welders will at some point in their career perform a weld on galvanized steel and encounter galvanize poisoning or "metal fume fever." Galvanize poisoning is a short-term reaction to overexposure of zinc oxide. Zinc oxide is produced when the steel's galvanized coating is heated and evaporates.

1. What is Galvanized Steel

   • Galvanized steel is iron that is coated with zinc. When hot-dipped, the zinc chemically reacts with the base metal to form a corrosion resistant coating. The outer layer of the coating is pure zinc and subsequent layers gradually change in composition until they reach the iron base metal.

     Between the zinc outer layer and iron base metal, zinc oxide is present in varying percentages of zinc to iron. The zinc oxide has the same chemical make-up as the white powder used by lifeguards to protect their noses against sunburn.

   Signs of Galvanizing During Welding

   • Proper prep work to remove galvanizing from the weld area will reduce your exposure to zinc oxide fumes, but some galvanize will remain in the weld area. Yellowish-green smoke, white powdery particles floating in the air and white residue around the weld are sure signs that zinc oxide is present while welding.

     Exposure to large amounts of the yellowish-green zinc oxide fumes will result in galvanize poisoning, commonly referred to as metal fume fever. The amount of exposure will have a direct effect on the severity of your symptoms.

   Symptoms of Galvanize Poisoning (Metal Fume Fever)

   • Signs of galvanize poisoning are similar to flu symptoms. The onset of metal fume fever begins shortly after the body is exposed to zinc oxide and the symptoms include a slight headache and nausea. With increased exposure, flulike symptoms begin to set in.

     Moderate zinc oxide exposure results in chills, shaking, slight fever, vomiting, and cold sweats. When the listed symptoms begin, it is time to stop welding and get fresh air. The symptoms can quickly become debilitating and you may need to go home and let the symptoms subside.

     Fatalities have been associated with extreme cases of galvanize poisoning. Therefore when metal fume fever symptoms begin, you should immediately avoid further exposure.

   How Long "Metal Fume Fever" Lasts

   • Metal fume fever is short-lived and the symptoms begin to fade within four hours of exposure and generally completely fade within 24 hours. Extreme cases of overexposure may see metal fume fever symptoms last for as long as 48 hours.

     Drinking milk can quicken the recovery process as calcium helps remove the zinc build-up from your body.

     There have been studies performed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the long-term effects of welding galvanized steel. No studies have shown long-term health problems due to continued exposure to zinc oxide fumes or repeated cases of metal fume fever.

   Avoiding Overexposure to Galvanize Fumes

   • Proper ventilation, avoiding direct contact with zinc oxide smoke, and proper pre-welding prep work will reduce the chances of your getting metal fume fever. Experienced welders that have had metal fume fever will tell you that drinking milk before, during and after welding galvanized steel will help eliminate the galvanize poisoning.

     There are specialized fresh air welding hoods available for welders who frequently weld galvanized steel.

      

     Article extracted from: 

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quote:"We died for Our Country and all We got was this measly Tee Shirt worth Ten Million !"

Ten Murdered Corpers Families get Ten Million Naira each. Photos Late Obinna & Ukeoma http://bit.ly/kfdYbE

 

Sarah, Duchess of York was NOT invited to Royal Wedding ! http://bit.ly/l0dl7q

 

Italians evacuate Rome over Massive Earthquake Prediction in 1911 http://bit.ly/jbYw83

Whitney Houston back in rehab: Spokesperson confirms that Houston has entered an out-patient programme for drug ... http://bit.ly/iuCgLQ

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Boko Haram rejects Amnesty    http://bit.ly/m9QCDi

  

Hold Jonathan responsible –CPC http://bit.ly/lC7wXQ

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Religion Still Leads Facebook Page Engagement maybe the Web ! people just wanna know ! http://bit.ly/kSajnb

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Since the result of Anambra Central Senatorial election was announced and Dr. Chris Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dora Akunyili’s immediate family members cannot help but laugh hilariously over her failure. A source close to the family informed that the family, who are not on good terms with the former NAFDAC boss, had earlier predicted her woes before the election. And when she failed, they went into jubilation as they condemned her being picked to contest the seat. “They never wished her success in her political aspiration because she is not good to them at all. She is always full of herself as she has fought every member of her family,” said our source

Why did you people not grant them access to Osama ! Una wait make him die ! Hi wifeys dem na terrorists ? 

PAKISTANI Interior Minister Rehis country would grant the United States (U.S.) investigators access to Osama bin Laden’s wives,

Also, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has denied that his administration struck an agreement with the U.S. years ago to let American special forces kill or capture Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan.

Meanwhile, news outlets in Pakistan have made public the name of an American they identified as the CIA station chief, but a senior Pakistani intelligence official said on Monday the person named was not the station chief.

Referring to a name cited in the Pakistani newspaper, The Nation, the intelligence official said: “If we were going to release the name, we would release the right one.” The official said he did not know where the name came from.

A U.S. official said there is “no current plan to bring home the current chief of station” in Pakistan.

The remarks came amid reports suggesting Pakistani officials may have leaked the name of a CIA official in the country.

However, on Monday, a senior Pakistani intelligence source had said the United States could only question bin Laden’s wives if their “country of origin has been asked for permission.”

But Malik, in an interview yesterday with CNN, refused to give a timeline of when U.S. officials might speak with the wives and did not say where the access would take place.

Pakistani officials have said bin Laden’s family members will be repatriated to their home countries after initial interrogations. One of bin Laden’s wives is from Yemen, the official said, while a well-placed U.S. official who would not speak on the record said the other two are from Saudi Arabia.

All three were taken into Pakistani custody after the May 2 raid by U.S. commandos that killed bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda terrorist movement.

The 29-year-old Yemeni wife, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, was wounded during the raid. The U.S. official identified the other two women as Khairiah Sabar, also known as “Umm Hamza,” and Siham Sabar, or “Umm Khalid.”

While U.S. officials have raised questions about how bin Laden could have hidden for years in a compound in a city with heavy Pakistani military presence, Malik denied any suggestions that the world’s most wanted terrorist may have had a support network in the Pakistani government, military or intelligence services.

Militants against whom Pakistan has been battling would have been the ones providing support, Malik said.

Meanwhile, Musharraf’s denial follows a report in a British newspaper that Washington and Islamabad reached a secret deal nearly a decade ago allowing the U.S. to conduct operations against bin Laden and two other top al-Qaeda leaders on Pakistani soil.

“Pervez Musharraf has seen a media report, and let me make it clear that no such agreement had been signed during his tenure,” said Musharraf’s spokesman, Fawad Chaudhry. “Also, there was no verbal understanding.”

U.S. Navy Seals conducted a unilateral operation May 2 inside Pakistan that killed bin Laden, the world’s most wanted terrorist. The pre-dawn raid was viewed by many Pakistanis as a national humiliation delivered by a deeply unpopular America.

In a report published last Thursday, The Guardian newspaper, quoting U.S. officials and retired Pakistani officials, said Musharraf and former President George W. Bush struck the agreement after bin Laden escaped U.S. forces in the mountains of Tora Bora in late 2001. If such a raid were conducted, the agreement was that Pakistani officials would publicly denounce the U.S. unilateral action.

“The Guardian report is baseless,” Chaudhry said.

In an Associated Press interview in January 2002, Gen. Tommy Franks, who headed the U.S. Central Command at the time, disclosed a deal with Pakistan allowing U.S. troops in Afghanistan to cross the border in pursuit of fugitive extremist leaders, including bin Laden. Pakistan denied such a deal existed.

“If there is any such agreement, the Pakistan government should place it in the parliament, and if there was any agreement, the American government should make it public,” Chaudhry told the AP from Dubai, where the country’s former military ruler is staying.

He added that during his tenure, Musharraf “always rejected the U.S. request about launc

Royal wedding: Sarah, Duchess of York speaks of 'difficult' snub Sarah, Duchess of York has spoken publicly for the first time about being snubbed by the Royal Family over the guest list to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.


The Duchess, who was a close friend of Prince William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, told a US talk show that it had been “difficult” not to have been invited.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, she said that she had gone to Thailand while the wedding was taking place.
Her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, attended the Westminster Abbey service with their father, the Duke of York.
The two princesses attracted lively discussion in fashion forums for their striking choice of hats by the designer Philip Treacy.
The Duchess, who is to have her own show on Winfrey’s cable channel, is understood to have turned down a slew of lucrative offers from US television channels to offer commentary on the day of the wedding
Her spokeswoman said in February that she had “never expected” to be invited.
In the interview, to be screened in America today, she admitted that she would have liked to have been with her daughters and former husband the Duke of York.
But despite the snub she paid tribute to Prince William saying that the late Diana, Princess of Wales "would be so proud of her son."
Last year, the Duchess was filmed by an undercover reporter posing as an Indian businessman offering access to her former husband, Britain’s trade ambassador, for £500,000.

Sarah and Prince Andrew married at Westminster Abbey in 1986 -- they divorced a decade later in 1996.
Despite their split, Sarah said her ex-husband, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, kept her involved in their daughters' wedding preparations and the spirit of Will and Kate's big day.

Businesses have reported requests from one in five people to have time off work and many are also keeping children away from school and heading to the beach or country for the day. Romans are taking it so seriously that local newspapers have even been publishing survival guides with tips of what to do – if – the ground starts to tremble. The panic has been fanned by Facebook, Twitter and text messages around a prediction by Raffaele Bendani, a seismologist who forecast in 1915 that a "big one" would hit Rome on Wednesday.
He is also said to have predicted other earthquakes which hit Italy during the last hundred years before his death in 1979.
Massimo La Rocca, headmaster of a school in the Trastevere district, said: "We have had quite a few parents calling in and saying they will not be sending their children in.

LAGOS-A Yaba Magistrate court has been told how a fake lawyer, Samuel Oladipupo Jibode allegedly duped a 75 years old man, Mr. Monsuru Adeyemi, of N10 million under the pretense of selling a property to him. advertisement In his testimony to the court weekend, Mr. Adeyemi, said Jibode hid his personality and used another prominent lawyer's name, Mr. David Olufemi, to swindle him of N10 million.

He told the presiding Magistrate A. O. Isaac that when the accused approached him, he had the inclination that the proposal for the purchase of the building may not afterall be genuine, but the moment he, the accused person, mentioned the name of the lawyer to him, he released the money. Under cross-examination by counsel representing the accused person, Mr. Adeyemi said on 14 May 2010, the agent, Mr, Ojo, and himself, one Mr. Oluyewola, the landlord of the building, Mr. Jegede, and two of Jegede's children went to Mr. Jibode's office at Oyingbo to pay the agreed sum of N10 million. He added that he was to pay a balance of N2 million after all the process have been completed. He told the court:

"I told him not to gamble with me. This is my retirement benefit from my pension from flour mill. I want to buy this house so that at my old age I will not suffer to train my children in school. "I complained about the Deed of Assignment which he prepared because there was no seal on it. Lawyer Jibode asked me not to worry. He called me three days latter on phone and told me that the landlord has been strangled to death by an unknown person." "I rushed down only to discovered that he has park out of his office and his phone numbers were no more reachable."

Our apologies it was actually 5million naira each ! 

10 X 5 = 50million Naira That is chicken change for the Federal Govt . How much are they spending to rehabilaitate Niger Delta Militants ... So many questions .

Only a few people could hold back their tears yesterday as President Goodluck Jonathan met with 10 families of the National Youth Service Corps members who were murdered in the post-election violence that engulfed Bauchi State last month.

Heartbreaking was the sight of the wife of one of the slain corps members from Bayelsa State, Tessy Adohe, who came with three of the four children — an eight-month-old baby and two older ones — she had with her late husband, Elliot Adohe.

“I appreciate the fact that no amount of recognition can adequately compensate for the deep void that their passing has created in your individual families,” Mr Jonathan said while directing that each family be given N5million, and that any unemployed graduate who was a direct sibling of a murdered corp member be given employment in the federal civil service.

The dead include Adewumi Paul from Ekiti State; Okeoma Okechukwu Chibudom and Ukazeone Amsalem Chukwunonyere from Imo State; Olawale Tosin and Akonye Ibrahim Sule from Kogi State; Ebenezer Ayotunde and Kehinde Jelili from Osun State; Anyanwu Agnes and Okpokiri Obina from Imo state; and Adohe Elliot, Bayelsa State.

Ismaila Tsiga, the director-general of the National Youth Service Corps, led the families to Aso Villa, Abuja, where the President received them.

‘Uncommon patriotism’

Mr Jonathan praised the corps members’ efforts which ensured the success of the 2011 elections and the “wide international acclaim which the exercise has received”. He said that all this was “due in large part to the uncommon patriotism and diligence exhibited by the members of the National Youth Service Corps”.

He vowed that his administration would bring the perpetrators of the post-election violence to book.

“Your sons and daughters may be gone, but they have not died in vain. You can take some solace in the fact that they are today national heroes of whom every patriotic Nigerian is immensely proud,” Mr Jonathan said. “Our administration holds them in the highest esteem, and we are determined to ensure that their names are permanently immortalized as an enduring source of inspiration to us all.”

Cold-hearted officials

Awuchewu Okpokiri, on behalf of the bereaved families, berated the NYSC management for the manner in which their children’s deaths was broken to them. Mr Okpokiri claimed that some parents were not informed of their childrens’ deaths until nearly a week had passed.

“We should have been told of what had happened but this was not so. A lot of us did not know [about] the deaths of these children until April 24, something that happened on the 18th,” he said.

Mr Okpokiri also advocated for the review of the scheme in “all ramifications”.

He, however, thanked the president for the compensation while adding that it would not be meaningful “until the perpetrators of this heinous act are brought to book”.

“A lot of the police stations in most of these areas are nothing to write home about and that means that security for our people, our common man in the area is not there. And that means anything can happen at any time,” Mr Okpokiri also said.

Again, sloppiness was alleged in the manner in which the families were invited to the event.

“Some of us from some states were sponsored by the NYSC to come here while some of us had to transport themselves to this place. They approached the NYSC and they didn’t give them any help and they had to come here on their own. I don’t think that is good enough,” Mr Okpokiri told the president.

He added that he hoped that their childrens’ sacrifice would be “the last sacrifice for the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria and for the unification of Nigeria”.

The president later assured them that they would all be taken care of.

‘Nigeria is not CPC’s bootcamp’

In response to a report published in a national daily yesterday, where the Congress for Progressive Change’s (CPC) Mr Malami was quoted to have likened the post-election violence to “the anger of of the people of the Western region in 1965 and the people of Ondo state in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South West in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results”, Mr Jonathan deplored such insensitivity.

“This attempt by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to justify the unfortunate carnage and bloodletting is vexatious in the extreme,” Mr Jonathan said. “It amounts to rubbing salt on the raw wounds of families who lost dear ones, and those who were maimed and lost valuable property to the carnage.”

In the statement signed by the president, he said Mr Malami’s comments amounted to “an open admission that the party’s supporters were indeed behind the violence, and that the party may well have planned it all”.

Mr Jonathan warned that “Nigeria is not CPC’s bootcamp”.

In the wake of the post-election violence, some people were arrested but there have been no reports of serious investigations or arraignments in court.

Outrage at screening of dying Princess Diana photo: Cannes documentary to show graphic picture for first time

A shocking paparazzi photograph of a dying Princess Diana is to be screened for the first time in a documentary about her fatal crash.

Unlawful Killing, which will be shown at Cannes this week, is backed by the actor Keith Allen and Mohammed Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana.

The 90-minute film will include a graphic black and white close-up of Diana taken moments after the Mercedes carrying the couple crashed in a Paris underpass.

Crash: A photographer is first to reach Diana's smashed up Mercedes in 1997. The public have never seen close-up images of her dying

The distressing image, Diana’s blonde hair and features clearly visible, has never been publicly seen in this country.

It will be shown around the world but not in the UK, prompting Allen to say: ‘Pity, because at a time when the sugar rush of the Royal Wedding has been sending republicans into a diabetic coma, it could act as a welcome antidote.’

Similar pictures shown to the Diana inquest jury had her face heavily pixellated.

News that Allen, father of pop star Lily, is using the full photograph outraged close friends of the late Princess of Wales.

Icon: Diana's fame has meant that her death has been the subject of intense scrutiny. An inquest - held a decade later - found she was unlawfully killed

Rosa Monckton, who went on holiday with Diana a few weeks before she died, said: ‘If this is true this is absolutely disgusting.

‘The fact people are trying to make money – which is all that they are doing now – out of her death is quite frankly ... words fail me.’

A spokesman for St James’s Palace declined to comment but royal sources said Diana's sons would be sickened by the news.

One said: ‘They rather hope people would treat this with the contempt it deserves.’

He suggested that William and Harry would not be drawn into commenting for fear of giving Allen the oxygen of publicity.

Sources told the Daily Mail that the princes will never publicly comment about their mother because they view the issue as ‘the most intensely personal and private aspect of their very public lives’.

Allen’s film is due to be screened amid a blaze of publicity at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday and Mr Fayed is reported to be travelling to the south of France to help with the launch.

In 2008, after a six-month inquest which heard evidence from 250 witnesses and cost taxpayers an estimated £12million, a jury concluded that Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed were unlawfully killed as a direct result of grossly negligent driving by drunk chauffeur Henri Paul, who also died in the crash.

The actions of photographers following the car were also cited.

Mr Fayed has accused Prince Philip of masterminding the 1997 crash in which Diana and Dodi died and even suggested that Prince Charles was involved.

He alleged the death plot took place to stop Diana marrying his Muslim son.

During the 2008 Diana inquest, the former Harrods owner described the royals as ‘that Dracula family’.

The photograph of Diana forms part of the trailer to Allen’s documentary on the film’s official website available in the UK.

Backers: The film, Unlawful Killing, is being supported by Mohammed Fayed, whose son Dodi died with Diana, and left-wing activist and actor Keith Allen, right

Getting ready: A screen is prepared on the beach for the 64th Cannes Film Festival in France, which is where the Diana documentary will be shown

The website proclaims: ‘Unlawful Killing is the story of the deaths of Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul.

‘It reveals a cover-up by the British Establishment culminating in a six-month inquest. Keith Allen’s ground-breaking documentary recreates key moments from the inquest and demonstrates how vital evidence of foul play was hidden from public scrutiny, how the royal family were exempted from giving evidence and how journalists, particularly those working for the BBC, systematically misreported the events and in particular, the verdict itself.

‘This is the story of how the world was deceived.’

Allen, in a piece for the Guardian newspaper last weekend, said: ‘My “inquest of the inquest” film contains footage of Diana recalling how the royals wanted her consigned to a mental institution, and the coroner repeatedly questioning the sanity of anyone who wondered if the crash was more than an accident.’

He said he asked every major UK broadcaster to commission a TV documentary about the inquest but they all refused.

Mourned: The gates of Kensington Palace adorned with tributes in 1997

He said Unlawful Killing was ‘not about a conspiracy before the crash, but a conspiracy after the crash. A conspiracy organised not by a single arch-fiend, but collectively by the British establishment’.

He said the film was being premiered in Cannes ‘because British lawyers insisted on 87 cuts before any UK release.

'So rather than butcher the film, we’re showing in France, then the U.S., and everywhere except the UK.’

A spokesman for the filmmakers said: ‘The picture has been published in full before, in many parts of the world. We acquired the image from an Italian magazine, which had already published it in full. It is also widely available on the web.

‘We are therefore not publishing anything that the rest of the world has not already seen elsewhere.’

A spokesman for Mr Fayed said: ‘He was not aware that any photograph taken of any occupant of the car was going to be in this film.

‘He is appalled by that and will be taking all necessary steps to make sure it is not in the film.’

The Nigerian naira eased against the U.S dollar on the interbank market on Monday after the Central Bank sold dollars at a higher rate than last week at its foreign exchange auction.

The naira closed at 155.85 to the dollar on the interbank market compared to 155.15 at Friday’s close, although the sale of $400 million by state-owned energy company NNPC helped prevent it from slipping further.

“We have NNPC funds in the market, about $400 million, but those who received the dollars are not selling, possibly covering their short positions with the funds,” one dealer said.

Traders said some of the banks were holding onto the funds in view of the closing gap between the central bank’s official rate and the interbank rate.

The central bank sold $300 million at 153.18 to the dollar at its latest bi-weekly forex auction on Monday, short of the $352.54 million demanded and compared to $350 million sold at 153.02 a dollar at the previous auction last Wednesday.

A one percent commission charged at the forex auction meant dollars effectively cost 154.71, narrowing the gap with the interbank rate.

NNPC is the largest supplier of foreign exchange to the interbank market with its large monthly dollar sales usually providing support for the local currency.

Some analysts said continued weakness in foreign reserves compared to year-ago levels were continuing to put pressure on the naira.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $32.66 billion by May 5 from $34.55 billion a month earlier and remain significantly lower than a year ago. They stood at $40.12 billion by May 5, 2010.

Dealers said the naira could weaken further in the coming days unless the central bank moves to reassure the market that it will continue to support the naira at current levels.

REUTERS

Stakeholders in the cement industry have expressed concern over the increasing prices of the product across the country in the last four months.

Some have attributed the situation to problems of inadequate supply, high transportation cost and policy somersault.

A survey conducted by the News Agency Nigeria (NAN) across the country showed that prices of the different brands of cement have gone up by an average of 44 percent in the past four months.

A bag of cement, which was sold for an average of N1, 500 in December 2010 is now on the average of N2, 500.

The cost of cement has now become a sensitive issue like that of petroleum products and food items.

The major brands of cement in the country are: Ashaka, Ibeto, Burham, Bua, Elephant and Dangote.

They are manufactured in different locations across the country although dealers said the Dangote brand is the most popular as it is more readily available in the market.

Abdulkadir Ibrahim, a civil servant in Kano, described the rising prices of cement as “painful and incredible.”

“I am just building a corner shop near my house and it is taking me years to actualise it because of high prices of cement.

“I used to buy a bag of Dangote cement for N1, 800 just four months ago, but now it costs N2, 350. Government must do something about this,” Ibrahim said.

Aliyu Mahmood, a businessman in Kano, also bemoaned the high and unstable prices of cement across the country.

Supply deficit

“If I buy a bag of Ashaka cement for N2, 150 today, tomorrow they will increase the price to N2, 250 because of the scarcity. This is traumatic,” Mr Mahmood, who is building a duplex in Kano, said.

The survey showed that the rising prices are often market induced because of supply deficit.

NAN reports that cement dealers in Akure, Ondo State, have confirmed the scarcity of all the brands which, they said, had in turn affected the prices.

Funso Omotola, a dealer on Idanre Road, Akure, told NAN that price of Elephant brand of cement rose to as high as N2, 750 in late March due to short supply and high demand for the product.

Stakeholders alleged that some cement manufacturers were taking advantage of the supply gap to increase prices arbitrarily.

An official of Ashaka Cement depot in Kaduna, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that a bag was sold for N1, 500 in November last year, but since then, the depot had not received any supply.

Some dealers have also blamed high transportation cost for the recent hike in prices of cement.

Abdullrasaq Usman, a cement distributor at Kaduna North Railway Station, told NAN that it used to cost them N80, 000 to transport 600 bags of cement from Obajana in Kogi State to Kaduna.

Mr Usman said it now cost N300, 000 to transport same quantity to Kaduna due to the scarcity of diesel.

“The cost of a trailer load containing 600 bags of cement is N912,000 while transportation cost is N300,000, which makes the unit price N2,020 from the manufactures,” he said.

Price fluctuations

Dele Ade-Ojo, an engineer and Head of Works Department at a local government secretariat in Akure told NAN that fluctuations in the prices of cement has greatly affected construction works in the council.

To accommodate the high cost of cement, the engineer said he had to come up with so many cost variations on projects he was handling.

A report from Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) and Renaissance Capital on cement situation in Nigeria confirmed that there was a supply deficit which local producers had not been able to meet despite investments in new plants.

“The high costs of doing business in Nigeria and other factors have helped to keep capacity utilisation at an industry average of 68 percent over the last five years,” CMAN said.

NAN