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95% of blocks not moulded to specifications – SON

By Businessnews Staff on September 5, 2014

The Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, on Thursday said only five per cent of concrete blocks sold in the market were moulded according to specifications.

Odumodu said this in Abuja at a national stakeholders’ forum on blocks and allied products.

He noted that the development had contributed significantly to the incidence of building collapse in the country.

The conference, with theme: ‘Safeguarding lives through compliance with standards’, also witnessed the commencement of the mandatory certification and unveiling of new cement bag labelling in the country.

Odumodu said, “We did a national survey on the quality of concrete blocks in Nigeria, especially the load bearing ones, and found out that only five per cent of the blocks are moulded to specifications of standard.

“That actually necessitated what we are doing here today, because we believe that it is important that anything that is remotely or directly contributing to building collapse in Nigeria should be addressed.

“What we are doing today is part of the specification process and part of it is to collaborate with the blocks and concrete moulders’ association, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild and other stakeholders that are involved in concrete in Nigeria.”

He also said SON was collaborating with professionals in the industry to ensure self regulation of their activities.

Odumodu added, “We are also collaborating with them on self regulatory obligation to meet above 20 per cent. SON cannot be everywhere, but if we have an association that regulates itself and comply with standards, then we are on our way to 100 per cent.

“And for me, if the statistics of five per cent is improved to 20 or 30 per cent within a year, I will beat my chest and say we are making some progress.”

The SON boss said the new cement bags had search numbers for traceability and expiry dates.

He maintained that SON was also concerned about storage of cement products, adding that all measures would be put in place to ensure that consumers get value for money.

Odumodu said, “If a bag of cement is 50kg and manufacturer put 45kg, that will compromise the strength content in such cement, and that is why we are particular about everything that has to do with standard, regarding weight, labelling, search number, manufacturing and expiry dates on the bags.

“All these must be clearly stated on the new cement bags and some of the manufacturers have been complying. In the next few weeks, the new cement will be all over the country.”

[Punch]

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