Cement controversy rages as group flays Reps on committee report adoption

An end may not be in sight yet to the lingering controversy over the cement policy on standardization, pigmentation and categorization as a non-governmental organization—Alliance Against Monopoly (AAM)—has criticised the anti-people stance of the House of Representatives manifested by the adoption of “the bogus, contradictory and anti-people recommendations” of its Ad-Hoc Committee on Investigation of the composition and pigmentation of cement in Nigeria.

The organisation says that by adopting the committee report, the House has tacitly supported the much criticised Cement Standardization Policy enunciated by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), contending that a more people-friendly House of Representatives would have jettisoned the “patently wrong-headed recommendations which runs contrary to public good”.

In a statement signed by its president, Chief Ike Omife, the organisation notes that the findings and conclusion of the House Committee Report were at variance with the submissions of most of the experts who testified on oath during the public session, wondering how the committee arrived at a conclusion that defied logic in a matter in which empirical facts were furnished by both experts and industry practitioners.

The group noted that the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) had in its presentation by its president,  Kashim A. Ali, submitted that “there was no scientific proof of the contribution of cement to incidences of collapsed buildings in the country”. COREN had observed that SON, which is the regulatory agency for setting standard for cement in Nigeria, did not have a competent laboratory for determining cement quality. It therefore, condemned the recent release on categorization of cement in the country by SON, noting that SON’s board as presently constituted lacked the technical competence to embark on such activity”.

Buttressing the COREN argument, the Institute of Building through its President, Tunde Lasabi, noted that “experience throughout the world has shown very clearly that cement quality is not the source of building collapse. Rather, the root cause is most frequent related to poor construction practices and emphasized the need for training and re-training programmes for block makers and cement users in all parts of the country as is done by some cement manufacturers.

The AAM noted that the Nigerian Institute of Architects led by its president, Tonye Beaide, had observed that “Cement remains the cornerstone of the country’s development taking full cognizance of the quantum of work pending in housing and infrastructural development”.

While on its part, the organisation said the Cement Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria through its President Engr. Joseph Makoju disclosed that “since the Standard Organsation of Nigeria (SON) has enforced a mandatory standard NIS 444-1:2003 for manufacture and quality of cement, all member companies have fully complied with the requirements of the cement standard, and their products are duly certified by SON. He further disclosed that SON carries out regular (quarterly) inspection of the cement plants, in addition to other testing measures to ensure rigorous compliance.