Mohammed Attah, Project Coordinator for an NGO, National Director for
Standard Awareness Group, is on top of plans to get the nation out of
the scourge of buildings collapse through awareness creation.
The group is set to raise five million voices against sub-standard products in Nigeria. He spoke to Abuja Metro on
causes of building collapse, why manufacturers should label and brand
their products according to their grades and usages. He also throws
light on the decisions of the National Assembly on the issue.
Many people seem to be in the dark over cement crisis in Nigeria, why is it so?
Many people seem to be outside the box due to the inability of the
regulators and consumers to come to terms over a period of time and
advice Nigerians adequately on the usage of cement.
The dire need for such awareness actually arose when we recorded huge
number of collapsed buildings in Nigeria. We had the largest number in
Lagos, Port Harcourt then Abuja. Stakeholders, consumer brands and
affected persons rose up in a meeting in Lagos and protested to the
regulator, which is the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for
urgent solutions to the problem. They noted that materials used for
building are causes of some of the building collapsed in Nigeria and it
needs to be investigated.
As a fact, they pointed directly at cement, but they don’t believe
that things like rods, maybe pile line and others could be responsible.
They believe for a building to collapse it must be that the cement
formation was not holding other particles properly. So, the agitation
began, and SON conducted a research which lasted for a year. And the law
stipulates that you cannot inflect on regulation except if the council
meets, and there must be a meeting of the technical committee before the
council meeting, because they are technical issues.
What was the outcome of the meeting?
The meeting was held precisely in March 2014, in Lagos, which
involved all stakeholders, regulators, SON, Nigeria Building and Road
Research Institute, Nigeria Society of Engineers, academics, civil
society institutions, Consumer Protection Council and cement
manufacturers in Nigeria and many others. Sequel to that meeting we
released 14 pages memo on cement products and building collapse in
Nigeria, as well as a review across the world on the status of cement
and their usage.
During the meeting, we were expected to go through the literature and
make presentation. We agreed on that meeting that there is no cement
produced in Nigeria that is sub-standard.
However, it was also agreed that cement has different grates and each
has its own purposes. But, the end users are not aware of this, which
has been responsible for large number of building collapse. For
instance, if you use cement produced for only plastering and blocks,
slab or concrete, there will be a problem. We analysed and concluded
that manufacturers and regulators should create awareness to the public
on the need of effective usage of cement without building collapse.
You mentioned that some cement are manufactured for certain purposes, how would the end users know the differences?
I think that is where the problem lies and our area of involvement in
the issue. So, we took this advocacy to ensure that Nigerians are aware
of the different types of cements, their grades and applications. But, I
want to clearly state here that we have three cement types presently in
use worldwide, which are 32.5mpa, 42.5mpa and 52.5mpa. Earlier, we
heard the 22.5mpa is used for land concreting and others usages, then
experts within us and the industry, who are part of the technical
committee, including foreign bodies also reviewed that globally. Now,
there is a shift in the usage of cement, and we advised there should be
centrally accepted cement that can be used for all purposes. So, we
agreed on clearly identifying all the cements based on the contents of
each by their manufacturers by the experts.
What was the discovery of the experts?
It was observed that 32.5mpa was reviewed and that it could only be
used for plastering and block making, while 42.5mpa is almost for
multipurpose, except plastering. It can be used in block moulding,
concreting, slabs and high rise buildings. And 52.5mpa can be used for
high density works such as bridges, embankments, dams and retainer
walls.
So, we deliberated that if it’s the situation then the wrong
combination of these products could also cause building collapse, when
it is not well mixed with water or sand no matter the grades.
How do you intend to bridge this gap and educate Nigerians?
It was agreed that all manufacturers should begin to brand or label their products according to the grades and usages.
Has that been done?
Though some people have complied with the order, we have not seen
anyone that has implemented it anywhere. And some of the cement
manufacturers have taken the case to court that the process was not duly
followed according to what was agreed upon. But, it not my issue
because I was not involved in the protest, but our duty is to look at
the issues and make presentations on process to salvage the situation.
What do you think made the manufacturers resort to litigation rather than comply?
Some manufacturers who had been producing 32.5 grades over a year
found it difficult to shift to producing multipurpose cement because
that entails upgrade and abandonment of the ones they had earlier
produced. But, we also have scientific proof that it doesn’t cost much
to upgrade which is why the issue of patriotism was raised when we made
presentations at the National Assembly before the ad-hoc committee on
cement and pigmentation. I emphasised to the Chairman, House of
Representatives ad -hoc committee on building and pigmentation, Dogara
Yukubu that the issue is to separate business from patriotism.
The committee has already submitted its report and declared that
manufacturers should phase-out 32.5mpa gradually from the market and
maintain 42.5mpa, which was even worse than the recommendation we gave
earlier. Ours recommends that 32.5mpa, 42.5mpa and 52.5mpa have the
different grades and usages, and should be properly identified what each
product stands for and branded accordingly.
What is the aftermath of the roundtable organised by NGO network recently in Abuja?
Aside the causes of building collapse mentioned earlier, we noted
that if they are faulty technical designs they could also cause building
collapse. We also looked at the rising cost of cement in Nigeria, which
the end users complained of. Even though we had reviewed the issues of
power, transportation and procurement, we agree that even when you
import cement from Europe or America, the cost could not be more than
N1,200 after importation, so why do we have cement sold costly when it
is manufactured locally? So, It was agreed that cement price needs to be
reviewed.
Have the manufacturers accepted that?
I was informed that some of them have started selling at a reduced
price of about N1,700 in some parts of the country, but we hope to buy
it cheaper than that. And some manufacturers have adopted a new strategy
where buyers don’t have to go through middlemen by providing locations
for direct purchase of the product.
But the prevailing price in Abuja has been N1,900…
It depends on the type of cement bought at that particular moment and
place of purchase. There are some old ones in the market, so it
gradually reducing in price.
House of Representatives recommended that 32.5 grade of cement
should go off the market, but some people testified that same grade was
used to build the famous Cocoa House, a 25-storey building in Ibadan and
some of the high rise in Marina, Lagos. How come they did not collapse?
I am not among those people that castigated the grades. When the
complaint was laid at the National Assembly about the process used in
arriving at the conclusions, that certain grades of cement should be
branded and labelled, it was based on expert presentation. In fact,
there is no specific proof yet to show it was exclusively used in the
past, because we had 22.5 in use then. The cement that was used and
still used today known as portland cement, in the past were used and
monitored by engineers and experts to make it difficult to manipulate or
abuse the process as we have today.
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