Cement users urged to seek professional advice

The president of COREN, Engineer Kashim Ali gave this advice during a press conference to address the quality of cement use in the construction industry in Abuja.Kashim explained that, cement as a material, is not used directly in construction but is normally mixed with other materials to form mortars and concrete, adding that each of […]

The president of COREN, Engineer Kashim Ali gave this advice during a press conference to address the quality of cement use in the construction industry in Abuja.
Kashim explained that, cement as a material, is not used directly in construction but is normally mixed with other materials to form mortars and concrete, adding that each of the three cement grades approved for use in the country can be used to produce these materials satisfactorily.
He said there is so far no empirical evidence linking the collapse of buildings to the grade of cement used.
He said, “Up till a few years ago, the only cement that was produced and massively used for all kinds of construction in Nigeria was the ordinary Portland Cement complying with the British Standard BS 12:1958.
“In line with the current international best practices, the Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON has certified and approved for use in Nigeria three grades of cement, namely grade 32.5, grade 42.5 and very recently grade 52.5.”
“SON has confirmed that all the cement produced or marketed in Nigeria meet specifications – meaning that there is no substandard cement in Nigeria.
“While there are many cases of collapse of storey buildings which use concrete, hardly have we had the cases of collapsed bungalows and they are all built with currently available cement.
“Due to lack of publicity, the public is highly ignorant of the availability of and special uses of the different grades of cement, even though the grades are written on the bags containing the cement.”