Monarch to Tinubu: renew license for Madewell, other cement factories.

Monarch to Tinubu: renew license for Madewell, other cement factories.

To reduce the soaring price of cement in Nigeria, the Ovie of Idjerhe Kingdom, His Royal Majesty Monday Obukohwo Whiskey, Udurhie I, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to renew operating licenses of the six regional cement factories, including Madewell Portland Cement, closed down about 12 years ago.

He spoke while touring the abandoned Madewell factory located by the bank of River Ethiope in Jesse, Ethiope West council area of Delta state.

According to him, urgent renewal of the import licenses to the Cement New Entrants Forum of Nigeria (CNEFN), which has owner of Madewell and indigene of Idjerhe, Prince David Iweta as Chairman, would create thousands of jobs across the country.

According to him, on establishment, the factory created 2,000 direct jobs for people of the kingdom, as well as 10,000 indirect jobs for Nigerians.

The royal father expressed confidence that the Tinubu-led administration will listen” to the appeal.

He further disclosed that “out of the 500,000 metric tonnes that was approved for Madewell Portland Cement to import, only 50,000 metric tonnes of this came to Nigeria.

“As we speak, no two or three, or four companies can get enough cement to meet cement consumption for Nigerians. So the best decision the government took then was to ensure that there is a Portland Cement factory, one in each region that is outside the major players and the licenses that were issued to them were for them to first import cement.”

Late President Umaru Yar’ Adua had issued six companies representing the six geopolitical zones, three licenses each in order to bring down the prices of cement, but their licences were revoked when President Goodluck Jonathan came into power after the sudden death of his boss.