Curbing BUA Group’s ant-people price regime
On Sunday October 1, 2023, the BUA Group announced the slashing of the price of 50kg cement from N5,000 to N3,500.
The announcement was made to coinside with Nigeria’s 63rd Independence anniversary, after the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration on May 29, 2023.
Industry watchers then doubted how realistic was BUA’s new price regime considering the unfriendly business environment.
Some accused the BUA Group and the owner of playing to the galary, while trying to impress the new government.
The group was said to have used the new price of its products to ambush the Tinubu administration with the aim of being a sole-supplier of cement to the new administration’s construction projects.
Though lobbying for government’s contract is not a crime; the manner the BUA Group went about it was suspicious.
The BUA Group went for the lobby with the impression of working for the masses and getting in the good books of the new government.
Recall that when the BUA Group announced the cement price slash last year October, the priority of the generality of Nigerians was not erecting houses.
They needed food to survive the harsh economy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
Instead, the BUA Group made sure the prices of its Flour and Spaghetti went out of reach for the poor masses.
Remember that BUA made N100 billion in six months with only N10 billion tax that came out of its Sugar refinery in Lagos.
The rest are not taxable because they are in a free trade zone called Bundu Free Trade Zone.
Though the nation’s economy is at the lowest ebb, it does not warrant BUA Group to indulge in arbitarary price increase on its products. Other companies like Dangote are not hiking the prices of products the way the BUA Group does.
The group’s reduction of the price of 50kg cement from N5,000 to N3,500 last year was even a hoax.
It continued selling a 50kg cement at N4,500 until February 1, 2024, when it raised it to N6,500. Of course this is the Lagos price as at Sunday February 4, 2024. It may be costlier elsewhere.
But the bottomline is that BUA Group which has benefitted so much from the government’s tax incentives should consider the poor masses before hiking the price of its products, which are daily food for Nigerians.
The food protest in Kano over the weekend would have been avoided if the BUA Group had listened to the voice of reason.
It started when makers of local bread, popular known as Gurasa, staged a peaceful protest in Kano following BUA Group’s increases in the prices of sugar, flour and pasta barely two months to the Muslim fasting of Ramadan in March.
The protesters said that on Monday last week, they received a new price notification from BUA Group that took effect from February 1, 2024.
The peaceful protest took place at Jakara in Dala Local Government Area in Kano.
Now that the leader of the protesters who is also the chairperson of the Association of Women Gurasa Bakers, Fatima Auwal Chediyar, has threatened an indefinite strike over the high cost of flour in the country, BUA Group should rethink its decision to hike the prices of its commodities especially with the Ramadan in the corner.
The new prices are not tenable now. Let the BUA Group allow the poor to breath.
I magine BUA’s letter to dealers:
Dear Esteemed Partner
Due to the continued impact of Fx. Effective Thursday, 1st February 2024, the Management of BUA Foods Plc has reviewed the prices of Sugar, Flour and Pasta as follows:
*1. Sugar*
Ex-Factory (Self collection)
Price = N66,000 per bag
Delivered Nationwide
Price = N69,000 per bag
*2. Flour*
Ex-Factory (Self collection)
Price = N37,000 per bag
Delivered Nationwide
Price = N40,000 per bag
*3. Pasta*
Ex-Factory (Self collection)
Price = N10,000 per b carton
Delivered Nationwide
Price = N10,500 per carton
