Housing is a basic need. Several lives are lost
annually in Nigeria through building collapse. A
number of factors are responsible for building
collapse.
According to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria
(SON), the factors include-inability to undertake soil
tests before erecting a building, faulty building
designs, mostly by non-professionals, wrong/
dubious construction practices – most times
leading to deliberate misapplication of building
materials and other corrupt practices, lack of
qualified supervisors or skilled artisans at building
sites and use of substandard material, e.g. cement.
Towards eliminating the menace of building
collapse, SON embarked on the standardization of
the basic inputs in building and construction like
iron and steel, roofing materials. Having completed
standardization in other areas, the agency set out to
review cement standard. It adopted a holistic
approach as to ensure that standards are
maintained in all spheres of the building process.
Following widespread protests over rampant
building collapse, the regulatory agency took the
commendable step of immediate response to review
cement standards in the country. The technical
committee of SON consulted widely with
stakeholders from all sectors including the Nigeria
Society of Engineers, COREN, universities,
researchers, builders, block makers towards
fashioning a suitable cement standard regime.
The stakeholders agreed
to streamline cement types, with 42.5 cement for
general purposes while 32.5 will now be restricted
to plastering work. Some cement manufacturers
kicked against the streaming saying it will lead to
loss of jobs in the industry. The primary concern of
all stakeholders should be elimination of loss of
lives from collapsed building.
SON's effort at reviewing cement type standard is
commendable as it will restore sanity to the
system. It will yield the same result as the efforts of
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration
and Control (NAFDAC) did in sanitizing the Nigerian
food and drug industry. Standardization is required
in all industries and sectors of the economy.
Without appropriate standards, a country will be
saturated with fake or substandard goods.
SON should be firm in ensuring that all cement
manufacturing companies adhere to the new
standard stipulated for the industry. The agency is
expected to come out with a schedule specifying
the period in which cement manufacturers are to
retool or reconfigure their equipment to meet the
new standard. Given the consequential loss of lives
and properties whenever a structure gives way, the
regulatory body should treat all cases of defiance or
non-adherence to the new standard as economic
sabotage with necessary sanctions handed to the
offending organization.
As a strategy of ensuring strict adherence, the
regulatory agency should have in place a series of
stringent sanctions and rewards for operators in the
industry. Producers meeting the standards are to be
rewarded while those not meeting the standards are
to be punished to deter others.
The desire by the House of Representatives to
strengthen the regulatory activities of SON and
eliminate building collapse informed the public
hearing on composition and pigmentation of cement
product.
Director General, SON, Joseph Odumodu at the
hearing, identified reinforcement bars and cement
in construction as two major culprits in building
collapse. He said, "In the last three years, we have
established a reliable quality system for bars and
so far we have not implicated this factor in any
collapse in four years. SON cannot give the same
assurance for cement. In carrying out our mandate,
we sampled and tested cement products at factory
and market levels as well as in mortar and concrete
applications."
Explaining why type 32.5 cement should be used in
plastering alone, he said: "Statistically, there had
been more collapses of buildings under construction
than old aged ones in the last 10 years. If this
frequency is juxtaposed in a milieu of
preponderance of type 32.5 which accounted for
over 90% of the cement in the last seven years, one
can make reliable deductions on the need to
proceed the way of restriction of type 32.5 cement."
The restriction of 32.5 ce
ment is appropriate as unscrupulous artisans will
use the same application and mixing ratio for 42.5
when using 32.5 therefore endangering lives.
Restricting 32.5 is in line with best global practice
as progressive countries have stopped the
production of that grade of cement. SON was only
drawing from best global practice and should be
given every support in the review of cement
standard.
When Nigeria was dependent on cement import,
SON stipulated 42.5 as the grade for import, building
collapse was rare but became common when
sufficiency was achieved in domestic production
where 32.5 cement account for high proportion of
the local production.
It is important to note that manufacturers of 32.5
grade cement have taken advantage of the high
level of ignorance of consumers in Nigeria. The
market prices of all types of cement have remained
the same irrespective of the grade, in spite of the
differential in cost of production.
The new directive from SON that 1/3 of cement
bags will now have information on the grade, uses,
date of manufacture among others will give buyers
knowledge of the product they are buying is a good
one. The public will no longer buy 32.5 cement at
the price of 42.5. But SON will need to increase their
surveillance and spot checks to ensure that
manufacturers do not bag 32.5 and label 42.5.
Instead of commendations, some cement
manufacturers are at daggers drawn with SON over
the new standards. They prefer the old regime
where anything and everything goes in the
construction industry. They disagreed with cement
type differentiation.
However, the Coalition Against Building Collapse
(CABCO) has risen in defence of the SON. In an
advertorial entitled:"Who is afraid of the new
cement standard?", CABCO said: "For years,
Nigerians have wallowed in ignorance, thinking that
'cement is cement' and any cement could be used
for any form of building project. It is not surprising
that numerous construction failures have been
recorded in Nigeria to which inappropriate
application of cement grade may have contributed a
lot.
"We are relieved that the SON has, in the interest of
the general public, reviewed the cement standards
in Nigeria in line with global trend. The new review,
we understand, stipulates the various grades of
cement and their applications."
SON has done a noble job in gathering stakeholders
and fashioning a new cement standard for Nigeria.
The agency is also embarking on a rigorous citizen
education and enlightenment campaign to inform the
public of the various cement types and their uses.
For SON, it is hoped that they will enforce and
maintain the new standard. The agency deserves
commendation for. And any manufacturer of cement
whose priority is not to milk Nigerians dry of their
hard earned money should embrace the standard.
www.vanguardngr.com/2014/06/son-raises- bar-new-cement-standard/
