The House of Representatives said it adopted the 42.5mpa grade because there is no building code and 90 per cent of construction is undertaken by non-professionals.
“It will serve the national interest better to adopt a particular cement grade, which is less susceptible to misapplication as the standard cement in the country,” the lawmakers said, adding that “most stakeholders will prefer it, if given the chance to choose between 32.5mpa and 42.5mpa”.
The recommendation followed the adoption of the report of the Hon. Yakubu Dogara-led Ad-hoc Committee on Composition and Pigmentation of Cement (Cement Quality), which investigated the incidence of collapsed buildings.
Lawmakers also recommended the swift passage of the National Building Code Bill to check quackery, use of substandard building materials and also to serve as a tool for the regulation of the informal downstream sector of the construction industry.
The House also recommended that Standard Organisations of Nigeria (SON’s) Governing Council should ensure that all cement manufacturers upgrade their production lines to start producing the 42.5mpa grade within a reasonable time, considering the cost of social dislocation.
Besides, the government should create a cement fund from contributions of N10 per 50kg bag of cement produced in Nigeria and N20 only per 50kg of cement imported into Nigeria for the establishment of state-of-the-art laboratories in all the geo-political zones within three years.
The fund, the House said should be managed by a task force to be set up by SON, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) and the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB).
The lawmakers said. “All cement packages must clearly and boldly indicate their grades, uses and expiry dates with tamper proofing on the packages to guard against repackaging by middlemen; SON should ensure that all cement distributions withdraw expired cement from their warehouses and markets and destroy them, “
They asked that the Federal Government set up a National Quality Assurance Programme, using designated agencies and some professional bodies to regularly test samples of cement produced before they are sold in the open market.
Part of the House’s 12-point recommendations was that government “ should take immediate steps to establish a cement and concrete institute, as is the case in many jurisdictions,” and that “government should also revive all technical schools across the country and establish new ones to improve on the pool of qualified artisans and generate skilled as well semi-skilled labour.”
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