The Executive Secretary of the Anti-Corruption Network (ACN), Dino Melaye on Friday in Abuja, threatened mass protest should relevant authorities fail to ensure production of quality cement.
Melaye, who is a former member of the House of Representatives, attributed the rampant cases of collapse building across the country to sub-standard cement being used to build houses.
He noted that the 32.5 cement grade is no longer being used in many countries as it could not give the much needed strength in construction as the 42.5 grade.
Leading a mild protest in Abuja, the ACN Executive Secretary, wondered why the Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga and the Director-General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Joseph Odumodu, refused to take action to ensure production of quality cement
The protesters, displaying placards with inscriptions such as: “Upgrade the Quality of Cement,” “Building Collapse Must Stop,” “Stop Killing Nigerians Through Low Quality Cement, they called on relevant authorities “to completely outlaw the use of the 32.5 grade cement and save Nigerians from further building collapse.”
Melaye states, “If concrete policy and regulation is not enforced immediately to save Nigerians from the gory of building collapse and untimely death, we will not waste any further time to protest against the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and the Standard Organization of Nigeria,” he said.
“Even though construction is growing, we may likely to ignore the incidences of building collapse and attendant unwarranted death and loss of properties. Cement quality has been identified lately as the key culprit in this painful occurrence.
“If the cement market is filled with 32.5 and 42.5 cement grades, you and I know the ones the illiterates and the greedy contractors will go for. Who will police the builders and the contractors to make sure that they use the 42.5 grade for pillars and 32.5 for plastering only?
“Nigeria still has a long way to go in effective regulation of construction. In a situation like this the win-win option for the larger good of the society is to standardise the quality of the cement by raising the bar.
“Ironically, I understand that upgrading to 42.5 can be done without raising the price of cement, although I suspect that it will take a fraction off the profit margin. But of what use is celebrating the growth of construction when lives and properties remain endangered”.
