BUA begins construction of N280m publishing house at Babcock University

Grows Cement Market Share To 30%

The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) has flagged off the construction of N280m publishing house at Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State.

The project tagged “Abdul Samad Rabiu Integrated Publishing House, Babcock University,” is part of the philanthropic gesture of the BUA Group founder under the Tertiary Education Grant Scheme.

The edifice will serve as a laboratory and studio for training students of communications, media studies, and allied disciplines as well as other disciplines.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony within the university, the Managing Director of ASR Africa, Dr. Ubon Udoh, said the project would enhance the capacity of the university from basic press status to a modern, integrated publishing house to encompass publishing, print production, and other related diversified services

Udoh, represented by Nakama Keri, expressed delight at the university’s choice of establishing an integrated publishing house. He disclosed that the Chairman of ASR Africa prioritises support for educational development in Africa and has committed about N35b to different programmes and projects across the continent.

The university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ademola   Tayo, expressed satisfaction at the nomination by ASR Africa, under its Tertiary Education Grant Scheme, adding that the choice of the project is a response to the vision to take the university’s Mass Communications Department to a new level.

Meanwhile, BUA has grown its market share of the cement industry from two to 30 per cent within eight years, the Managing Director of the Bua Cement, Yusuf Binji, has said.

Speaking in Abuja at the 12th anniversary of business partnership between BUA and CBMI, a Chinese company, Binji revealed that plans are underway to build another cement factory in Sokoto, which will ramp the group’s production capacity to 20 million tons per annum.

He added: “BUA Cement has grown from a two per cent market share to over 30 per cent within the last eight years. Our capacity has increased from half a million tons to over 17 million tons. I am pleased to announce that we recently signed an agreement to build another cement line in Sokoto, which will take our installed capacity to 20 million tons.” On his part, the Chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, said his adventure into the cement industry was ‘accidental’.

“In 2008, the then-President of Nigeria, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, recognised the need to increase cement production and supply in Nigeria. At that time, Nigeria was only producing about three to four million tons of cement, which represented only about 40 to 50 per cent of the country’s demand. The rest was being imported.

“To address this challenge, the government decided to invite six companies from the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria to participate in the cement business. Our company, BUA Group, was invited from the northwestern part of Nigeria to participate. Initially, I did not know the cement business, but I was invited to participate.”

The business mogul who lauded the Chairman of CBMI, Mr. Hongdae Wu, for his support, attributed the success recorded by the company to Chinese technology. The General Manager of CMBI, Geng Fengtao, said over the past 12 years, CBMI and BUA have worked together to complete many projects, including the most advanced cement plants in Nigeria, such as the three cement lines in Obu and the three cement lines in Edo.