The campaign to standardise the manufacturing and importation of cement is gathering momentum, as experts and stakeholders in the building and construction industry renew the call for the authorities to make the higher 42.5 grade of cement the standard product in Nigeria. Assistant Editor Chikodi Okereocha reports that the latest agitation is prompted by the recent collapse of a two-storey building in Lagos.
If an opinion poll is conducted, it is doubtful if any issue would beat the rising spate of building collapse in Nigeria among issues agitating the minds of operators and stakeholders in the building and construction sub-sector. Between 2007 and last year, over 130 buildings collapsed in Lagos State alone, according to a report by a tribunal of inquiry set up by Governor Babatunde Fashola on May 20, last year. The problem is not peculiar to Lagos. Major cities across the country such as Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Warri, have had a fair share of building collapse, and in most of the cases, experts identified poor quality and lower strength cement as one of the causes.
Indeed, rising cases of building collapse has been a pain in the neck of estate surveyors and valuers, architects, town planners, quantity surveyors, engineers (structural and civil), building contractors, landlords/developers, and the regulatory authorities. It could not have been otherwise. The emotional trauma, which occupants go through when such buildings collapse, is unimaginable. Apart from losing properties and loved ones, families have been displaced, with some yet to find alternative abodes.
For instance, two weeks after 10 persons, including teenagers sustained varying degrees of injuries when a two-storey building collapsed in Lagos, they are yet to get over the shock. The victims were reportedly working in the building at 11 San Beach Lane, off Longe Street, Oworonshoki, when it caved in about 11am. The owner of the collapsed building and the contractor in charge took to their heels to evade arrest by the authorities.
It took the combined efforts of safety agencies to rescue the affected persons who were trapped in the rubbles. The Nation reported earlier that the rescued teenagers – Monday Ahungbe (12), Jimoh Adebiyi (13), Oba Alafia (14) and Moses Atokiti (15) were assisting six adult construction workers. They sustained minor injuries and were taken to Folabi Medical Centre, Oworonshoki. Two of the adult victims with major injuries were taken to the Gbagada General Hospital.
The incident, the latest in the long list of building collapse in Lagos, as usual, drew the ire of not a few Nigerians and stakeholders, most of who are renewing their agitation for stricter enforcement and complete overhaul of the building and construction regulations. Specifically, they are insisting that relevant authorities should initiate moves to adopt the higher 42.5 grade of cement as the standard product in Nigeria as against the lower grade 32.5 in the market.
Leading the renewed campaign for standardisation is a coalition of civil society groups and professional bodies in the construction industry. The coalition is threatening to lead protests against manufacturers and importers of 32.5 grade cement. It threatened to take its campaign to the National Assembly where it hopes to demand that lawmakers probe manufacturers and importers of cement, some of who the group alleged, compromise standards.
About three months ago, the coalition kick-started the campaign to enforce standard in cement when it petitioned the Federal Government and threatened to lead a march against cement manufacturers over their possible complicity in the collapse of buildings that had become rampant in the country. The coalition identified poor quality and lower strength cement as one of the causes of failed structures and insisted that the government must force manufacturers to produce and distribute only the highest quality of the product to stem building collapse.
In the petition, the coalition noted that nearly all the cement manufacturers and importers in the country were 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 believed to be partly responsible for building collapse. The group therefore, called on the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to ensure that strict standards are maintained and offenders punished.
The coalition did not stop there. They also made a case for urgent enforcement of the National Building Code, arguing that this could go a long way in addressing the lax control by regulatory authorities. The civil society groups also disclosed that they were reaching out to the Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) to lend its voice to the unwholesome practice of cement manufacturers which, according of them, is endangering the lives of Nigerians. They vowed to confront the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN) for poor standard of locally produced and imported cement, claiming in their working document that most advanced countries are migrating from the lower 32.5 grade of cement to the higher level 42.5 specification and even 52.5 with a uniform standard set by the government, manufacturers and importers.
Ninety-two per cent of Portland cement produced in the United States (U.S) are in 52.5 and 42.5 grades, while other imported cement from China, Japan, Denmark and Paris are all 42.5 Grade.
“Over 90 per cent of consumers are not aware of the different types of cement available in Nigeria. Their expectations on the performance of cement are the same regardless of the type. The grade (quality) of concrete to be used may allow 32. 5 grade cement for certain construction work such as pavements, rendering (plastering) and culverts, but would demand 42.5 grade of cement for structures, columns, bridges and multi storey buildings,” an expert said.
The experts who declined to be mentioned, explained that there are about three types of cement in the Nigerian market, namely, CEM 1 42.5 R, CEM 1 42.5 N, and CEM 32.5 R. However, there are variants of these types of cement with different specifications. CEM I 42.5 R and CEM I 42.5 N cements are produced with clinker and limestone in the ration of 95 per cent and five per cent, respectively. The gypsum that is added during the grounding is for adjustment of the setting period, which is usually obtained at the end of 28 days.
Among other applications, this cement is used when good strength concrete is required,especially in concrete productions requiring high strength, or early strength. Also, it is used in the production of thin section reinforced concrete and in highly reinforced concrete buildings, among other uses. CEM II 32.5 is suitable for flooring and wall plastering (rendering).
“Prior to Nigeria’s attainment of self-sufficiency in cement production, how come that during the import era, we were all compelled by the regulatory authorities to bring in 42.5 grades and now since 2012 when import was banned, the same regulatory authorities condoned the production of 32.5 grades?” the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Dangote Cement Plc, Devakumar Edwin, asked.
The President, Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, Moses Ogunleye, proffers an answer. “SON seems to be overwhelmed; they are monitoring standard in several sectors and so, they may not be aware of the existence of poor quality cement in the market,” he said, adding, “let us ask questions from SON.”
Ogunleye argued that there is no reason why anything sub-standard should be in the Nigerian market in the first instance, much less cement. He also said the Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory set up to register and accredit all block moulders as part of the standardisation drive has not yet registered anybody.
However, SON has risen in stout defense of its regulatory role in the cement sector. First, the organisation insists that the quality of cement is not responsible for the spate of building collapse in the country.
According to the Director-General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, the quality of cement produced in the country is up to international standards. He noted that unethical practices among builders are the major reasons for the incidence of collapsed building. Hear him: “The quality of cement is not responsible for buildings collapse. Our findings show that this often comes from concrete mixing. A bag of cement is meant to produce 30 blocks, but some people often use it to mould 50 blocks.”
Secondly, Dr Odumodu insists that as a responsible organisation, SON is committed to ensuring that the consumers get the best of quality whether in the construction industry or elsewhere, which was why he said the organisation constituted a technical committee of experts to generally review the problems faced by stakeholders in the construction industry especially in terms of quality of building materials including cement. “The committee, which is made up of well-informed individuals would take a holistic look on the quality of building materials in the country inclusive of cement. As a responsible standards bureau, SON has never and will never leave the quality of any product to the whims and caprices of any individual or group of operators”, he said.
Dr. Odumodu explained that the inauguration of the technical committee became necessary because of the technicalities of the issues in contention, which needed to be addressed by experts and stakeholders from various segments of the construction industry and the society.
Members of the committee are technical people from professional bodies, the academia, civil society organisations, trade unions, cement manufacturing firms and journalists, among others. The National Association of Block Moulders, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) and the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), among others, are all members of the technical committee.
The committee met on March 17 and began the review of cement standardisation in the country. The ultimate objective of the committee is to ensure that only cement that guarantees safety of buildings and human lives is produced and sold in Nigeria.
Declaring the technical session open, Odumodu said: “We have seen a lot of building collapse in the country and we know that most of these have caused avoidable deaths and we cannot allow it to continue. So in this meeting, we expect to get expert technical insights on the way forward in standardisation of cement. The media has been awash with varied information about different classes of cement and so to bring succour to Nigerians, we have brought together a critical mass of knowledgeable experts to provide direction on the issue.
Continuing, the SON chief said: “Many questions have been asked by Nigerians that need answers. To be sure, there is no substandard cement produced in Nigeria because we have cement standards well elaborated in the country. But there are issues that must be addressed. For example, SON has established that people in the country, who go to the market to purchase cement for one construction activity or the other, do not actually know what they buy from the market.”
Earlier, Odumodu explained that the technical committee is not chaired by SON. “We just provide a secretariat and it is what the committee arrives at that would be taken to the council of SON and once it is approved, it becomes a standard. Let me also state that a standard is not enforceable except the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment designates it as a mandatory standard,” he explained.
As Nigerians await the report of the technical committee, a cement importer, who declined to have his name in print, said there was no reason local cement producers should be allowed to produce 32.5 grade when all over the world standard has moved to 42.5 grade.
He argued that if cases of collapsed building must be checked, there is urgent need for cement manufacturers to expand their infrastructure to produce the higher 42.5 grade of cement. He said if the government is serious about the backward integration policy in the cement sub-sector, it is necessary to ensure that the right thing is done from the onset, which is to encourage cement manufacturers to emphasise quality and standard.
The 42.5 cement grade, according to construction experts, is stronger and has better qualities. Apart from possessing higher strength capability, the cement grade has a rapid setting quality, which makes it the preferred grade among block makers, builders and construction workers. With quick setting, blocks come out stronger, reducing the number of breakages. For now, only Dangote Cement Plc manufactures 42.5 grade of cement in all its three plants in Obajana, Kogi State; Ibese, Ogun State; and Gboko, Benue State.
However, depending on how the technical committee set up by SON votes at the end of the session, other cement manufacturers and importers may soon follow suit and produce 42.5 grade of cement.
Although, some people argue that there is no compelling evidence linking poor quality cement to the increasing menace of buildings collapse, the consensus is that making the higher 42.5 grade of cement the standard product in Nigeria would at least, narrow the search for the causes of buildings collapse.
