President Bola Tinubu has been urged by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to end the unfair cement and building material monopoly.
In a statement, IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful pleaded with Tinubu to save Nigeria from economic collapse by preventing a precipitous drop in the cost of construction supplies.
The current hardship of Igbos and Nigerians, according to Powerful’s signed statement, is due to policies of ethnic discrimination against their enterprises.
“The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, which is sweeping the world and is ably spearheaded by the great and tireless Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is urging the Nigerian government to end the Fulani monopoly on cement and other construction materials that the country is currently facing.
Policies based on ethnic intolerance have hurt Ndigbo commercial interests, which has led to their current misery and the suffering of other Nigerians.
Under the Obasanjo administration in Nigeria, the Fulani-owned businesses Dangote and BUA enjoyed special treatment and eventually became the cement industry’s dominant players.
“Ibeto and other patriotic company owners of building materials should be contacted promptly by President Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu of Nigeria if he is interested in reducing the suffocating price of cement and other construction materials.
We are not pleading with the administration to save Nigeria’s collapse. But if Nigeria wants to fall, then let them fall. The Biafran people will keep on eating, surviving, and constructing homes until Biafra arrives.
The savage and evil strategy of Olusegun Obasanjo should be reversed and Ibeto cement should be brought back into the Nigerian market if President Bola Tinubu is serious about reducing the skyrocketing cement price.
It is a nasty and uncaring government that limits competition and supports monopolies. “By the cabals, for the cabals” describes this kind of government. By restoring competition, Tinubu can restore fair market prices.
Iron rods measuring 12 millimeters cost 13,000 Nigerian cedis, whereas a bag of cement costs about the same. Capitalists enjoy the government’s support through monopoly, allowing them to exploit people at exorbitant costs. He warned that in the next five years, many Nigerians would be without homes as capitalists continue to reap ever-increasing profits.