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Femi Asu, Ife Ogunfuwa and Temiloluwa O’Peters
The inability to meet market demand for cement coupled with low production volume by major cement companies in Nigeria have driven prices up by 35 per cent.
An investigation by The Punch indicated that a 50kg bag of cement, which cost between N2,400 and N2,600 as of September this year now sells for N3,500.
Stakeholders attributed the recent hike in price which started in October this year to insufficient supply of the product that resulted in artificial scarcity.
It was gathered that though the price of cement from the factories had not changed, retailers and distributors were profiting from the poor supply by increasing prices.
NIN: Confusion as Nigerians storm NIMC centres, shun COVID-19 rules
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Subscribers at the National Identity Management Commission office, Alausa, Lagos office of the commission…on Monday. Photo: @prinzgbemi
• Government extends SIM linkage to NIN deadline till January
Our Correspondents
There was confusion at the National Identity Management Commission offices across the country on Monday as Nigerians thronged registration centres to obtain their National Identity Numbers.
The PUNCH correspondents, who monitored registration centres in Lagos, Plateau, Kano and Gombe states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, observed that people struggling to register disregarded COVID-19 preventive measures with many of them pushing one another.
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Ife Ogunfuwa with agency report
MTN says it has ordered 14,000 new devices to enrol and capture National Identity Numbers.
The devices, it said, are expected to arrive in Nigeria in two weeks.
The telecom company during an investors call on Thursday told shareholders that the Federal Government had granted MTN and other operators a licence to register the identities of Nigerians, Bloomberg reported.
“This will enable us to enrol NINs on behalf of the National Identity Management Commission and validate information against their database, incoming MTN Nigeria CEO, Mazen Mroue, said on an investor call.
“It is a licence and capability we have been seeking for some time,” Mroue said.
Nigeria records 5,809 COVID-19 cases in 10 days, NMA predicts NIN spike
Our correspondents
The Nigerian Medical Association on Thursday said that the Nigerian Communications Commission’s fresh directive on the national identification number could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
The NCC had on Tuesday directed telephone companies to deactivate telephone lines of users who failed to link their NIN to subscribers’ identification modules within two weeks.
Findings by one of our correspondents showed that the country had witnessed an increase in COVID-19 cases as 5,809 people were infected between December 7 and December 16.
Advising Nigerians on gatherings at the NIN registration centres, the NMA President, Professor Innocent Uja in an interview with The PUNCH, said more people could be infected at the NIN centres if they disregarded safety protocols.
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Our Reporters
The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other groups have warned that Nigeria’s fragile economy cannot withstand another lockdown.
MAN, the LCCI, and others, in separate interviews with
The PUNCH, called on Nigerians to adhere to COVID-19 preventive measures to prevent another lockdown.
The groups gave the warning just as a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, on Tuesday disclosed that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, had tested positive for COVID-19.
Recall that following increase in COVID-19 cases in April, the Federal Government imposed lockdown in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the Federal Capital Territory.