The cement politics and collapse of buildings

These unfortunate but avoidable incidents had consumed several precious lives and wasted scarce financial resources. The rate at which they happen and the shabby attention accorded them by those supposedly in-charge have compelled one to ask if there exists any building code or regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring standards in the construction […]

These unfortunate but avoidable incidents had consumed several precious lives and wasted scarce financial resources. The rate at which they happen and the shabby attention accorded them by those supposedly in-charge have compelled one to ask if there exists any building code or regulatory agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring standards in the construction industry. As a people, we saw nothing amiss in all of it. We moved on with equanimity and pray to God to as usual cover us with His blood until another devastating incident occurs.
It took a petition by a coalition of civil society and professional groups in the construction industry for the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to rise up to its responsibilities. The petitioners alleged that the use of 32.5 cement grade in construction works was responsible for incessant building collapse across the country. The SON quickly set up a technical committee headed by Professor Innocent Onyeyili to look at the existing grades of cement and recommend the best for the overall good of the nation. The committee had members drawn from relevant stakeholders in the cement business chain, construction and building industry. In the end, the committee recommended the use of 42.5 cement grade.
The House of Representatives had also, in response to the rising cases of building collapse, inaugurated an ad hoc committee on cement composition and pigmentation. Hon Yakubu Dogara chaired the committee which in the final analysis recommended the use of 42.5 grade cement “because it is less susceptible to misapplication and most stakeholders will prefer it if given the chance to choose between 32.5 and 42.5 grades.” This coincidentally was the same position taken by SON. The committee also made 12 other far-reaching recommendations for the growth and development of the building and construction industry, all of which were adopted.  
In this furore, one wonders why it was only an isolated case of cement grade that caught the fancy of the SON and the House of Representatives. As a matter of fact, neither cement nor its grade causes building collapse because it is just one component, among many, in the building construction process. The committee set up by SON and the House of Representatives ought to have painstakingly taken a holistic view and factor in other variables responsible for building collapse before arriving at their recommendations. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) were of the view that cement as a water-based binder and common ingredient in building construction does not stand in isolation or independent of other materials, for they are jointly mixed together to form vital components of a building structure. Standing at different strategic locations in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world are many historical edifices built over decades and centuries ago with 32.5 cement grade.
In fact, a whole lot of ignored factors have brought the building industry down on its knees as it were today. First is the issue of quackery in the building industry. Many incompetent individuals who have no business in the construction industry are actively in the lead. With that, every Tom, Dick and Harry, who has got little or no requisite knowledge in building but has worked as a mason in building sites for some years, now handles building projects posing as builders or even civil engineers. These quacks come cheap and people patronise them without giving a deep thought to the outcome of their devastating end products.
Second is the flagrant abuse of building code, ethics and standards. End users of building products, for reasons connected with let’s make do with what we have syndrome and personal gains, compromise standards. This involves complete neglect of recommended mix ratio (of water, cement, sand and gravel) in making blocks and mortars, proper composition and positioning of re-enforcements (pillars and iron rods) within the structure etc. If there is any building ethics and standard at all in Nigeria, the abuse of it leaves us at the odd spot where we are today.
Third, the nation lacks standard laboratories for testing and appraising locally produced and imported building materials. It was in consonance with this deficiency that the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) informed the nation that “SON, which is the regulatory agency for setting standard for cement in Nigeria, has no competent and functional laboratory for determining cement quality”. It also said that “SON’s board as presently constituted lacked the technical competence to embark on such an activity”. Without this facility in place it will be difficult to ascertain the quality of products going into building construction in the nation. Some companies have taken advantage of this lacuna with the collaboration of unscrupulous individuals to import substandard products at the expense of the nation.
Fourth, there is little or no awareness and enlightenment of Nigerians as to the kinds of cement grades we have, their suitable usages and how to identify them. Presently, most Nigerians cannot differentiate between 32.5 and 42.5 cement grades. There is need for colour differentiation in packaging of various grades for buyers to ascertain which to buy.
Finally, this is a clarion call to SON, stakeholders in the construction and building industry, and indeed all Nigerians to as a matter of urgency step up action against building collapse before it consumes all of us. Those concerned should, to quote Onyeachonam, “insist on strict adherence to building code and concrete standard as a way of stemming incessant collapse of buildings. The production of sub-standard blocks arising from the quality of the mixture of cement and other materials and how builders are regulated is responsible for much of these problems”. The on-going effort at revamp the building sector should not be segmented, rather a comprehensive approach to addressing them should be holistically evolved.

Sunday Onyemaechi Eze, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Samaru Business Unit, Zaria ([email protected]).