By Franklin Alli

Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc has said that it remains in operation and has no intention of shutting down its plants. The firm said it remains focused on its vision of delivering value to its customers and stakeholders through innovative products and services that have become the hallmark of its business.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Hudson, in a clarification of recent reports said that “although we temporarily reduced our production recently to manage inventory levels, we have no intention of closing our plants and expect to be fully operational soon. Indeed it is true that the last quarter of 2012 saw an unusually dull market evidenced by an industry-wide situation where current stock levels of cement and clinker are high.”

Cement

“Our organisation’s commitments to sustainable business tenets such as customer orientation, innovation, people development, social investments, strong financial discipline, corporate governance and Health & Safety have kept us in business for the past 52 years and will take us the long haul”.

Hudson expressed delight at the development of local capacities that the country has witnessed – including the birth of its ultra-modern Ewekoro II plant – which has led to the bridging of  gap in the supply-demand curve of cement in the country.

He maintained that local capacity has improved rapidly. Today, cement manufacturers are even calling for the use of concrete for building more durable roads which will serve Nigerians better. We could not have done this a few years back”, he said.

As part of its development plans, Hudson reiterated that Lafarge is committed to working with both government and other stakeholders to develop not only the upstream but also the downstream sector of the Nigerian cement market by developing applications needed for use by the built sector, adding that the company’s launch of its ReadyMix division is a demonstration of this commitment.