Lagos, Nov 02, 2009 (Daily Champion/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The Managing Director of Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr Emmanuel Ukpabi on Thursday in Lagos commended Federal Government's approval to cement manufacturers to import gypsum into the country.

Ukpabi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that the approval would boost cement production in the country.

NAN reports that the gypsum is a major raw material in the manufacturing of cement

Ukpabi said that the initiative was a welcome idea especially now that the Federal Government had banned the importation of bagged cement.

He noted that the local cement manufacturers needed about 500,000 tonnes of gypsum annually to operate optimally, adding that Nigeria's gypsum was not in commercial quantity to meet domestic demands.

" Gypsum is one of Nigeria's numerous natural resources but it is in a tinny layer and 80 per cent of it are impure to the cement industry needs," he said.

According to him, it is good that government should initiate policies that will encourage investment to thrive and create employment for the teeming youths.

" The bagged cement trade was only creating revenue and employment for other nations' economy and more also it failed to crash the price of cement in the country," Ukpabi said.

He said that the ban and importation of gypsum would accelerate production and encourage huge investment to the sector.

The Flour Mills chief put the annual local production of cement between 9,000 to 10,000 tonnes while the nation's demand was about 15,000 tonnes in 2008.

He said that the shortfall was being augmented with the importation of bulk cement.

He told NAN that the poor supply of gas and enabling environment had negated on cement production in the country.

"Flour Mills Plc spends about 90,000 litres of diesel daily to power its generating sets and constructed several kilometres of gas pipeline to access gas to power the factory," Ukpabi added.

He urged the government to provide the enabling environment to enable investment thrive.

<<Daily Champion. Distributed AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). -- 11/03/2009>>