Flour Mills of Nigeria has forecasted a zero importation of cement by the year 2013 through United Cement (Unicem), a joint venture with Holcim and Lafarge.  Dr. Emmanuel Akpabio, group managing director of the company, made this announcement at its ‘facts behind the figures’ meeting held on the floor of the stock exchange.
Unicem, which is a result of “part of the company’s diversification strategy is engaged in the importation and distribution of bulk cement under the burham cement brand. A second manufacturing line is being planned for the cement company.
Mr. Olusegun Aganga, minister of trade and tourism, at a different forum, said this move is similar to the plan of the federal government to put machineries in motion to position Nigeria as a net exporter of cement to the Ecowas sub-region.  
Aganga disclosed this at the inauguration of the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the Project Implementation Team (PIT) charged with establishing a Cement Technology Institute (CTI) in the country.
He said that the quest to set up the institute had been on the drawing board for more than 10 years and expressed happiness for being able to ensure its realisation. “The CTI is being set up to assist the nation to optimise its cement production capacity and capability through acquisition and development of appropriate technology,” he said. “This will make cement adequately available as a low cost building material for the average Nigerian.”   The company, which wholly owns eight other subsidiaries and has stakes in four others over the years stretched its tentacles beyond its core product of industrial flour into other businesses including bag manufacturing, agro-allied products, transports and logistics, shipping and its latest aspiration, power generation.
According to Akpabio, the power generation project will not only be of benefit to the company but also to the federal government as well. He said “the excess power generated would be arranged and it would not be a case of very few people benefiting from it.” Despite the company’s intention to keep up with the economic times by diversifying into other profitable ventures, its biggest money maker remains industrial flour, a sector in which it holds about 45 per cent of the market size.
This sector also brings in its biggest revenue and only a modest 36 per cent comes from the other ventures put together.