Coalition to Launch Campaign for Standardisation of Cement

 

A coalition of civil society groups and professional bodies in the construction industry is set to launch a major campaign for the standardisation of cement production and importation.

Specifically, the coalition said it would call on the relevant authorities to initiate actions to make 42.5 grade of cement the standard product in Nigeria.

It noted that nearly all the cement manufacturers and importers in the country are in the habit of taking advantage of the lax regulation and lack of enforcement to vary their pigmentation in favour of the lower grade cement (32.5), which in most cases, is used in building works, and seen to be partly responsible for building collapse.

The agitators say they will enlist the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) to prompt SON to be alive to its responsibilities by ensuring that strict standards are maintained and offenders punished. They will also call for the enforcement of the National Building Code, stressing that it could go a long way in addressing the lax control by regulatory authorities.

The civil society groups argued further that they were equally reaching out to the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) to lend its voice to this unwholesome practice of cement manufacturers which according of them, is endangering the lives of the people. 

'Maintaining standards for all products' range, there are standards. Cement may not be a drug, but it has fatalistic effects as it happens in bridges and buildings collapse when low quality specimens are used. And this has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria.

  The unfortunate thing is, those who are charged with the responsibility of investigating these recurring mishaps, have never looked the way of the quality of cement used in some of these  structures, rather, only the contractors bear the brunt. 

It is important that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), if they are the ones in charge, should take a closer look at the quality of cement churned out by local manufacturers and also the imported ones as well.