SON prescribes cement types for builders

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has called on stakeholders in the building industry to use type 32.5 cement for plastering only while type 42.5 be applied for concrete making.
Joseph Odumodu, the Director-General of SON, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria on the issue on Monday in Abuja.
Odumodu further said that those involved in bridges and road construction should be restricted to applying only stronger types from 52.5 and above.
He said: “That is the regulation now and nothing would change it.
“Everything in the press as to whether there are substandard cement or not is all about people wanting to make more money.
“As far as I am concerned, that is not my business.
“My business is safety and performance.”
Odumodu said SON would not relent in its function of monitoring and educating the public on the danger of misapplying cement.
He said: “The truth is that there are no substandard cement in the country.
“What we sure have are non-professionals in the building and construction industry.
“Nigeria has over 90 per cent of its construction handled by non-professionals, people who did not go to school to learn the art.
“But if you even insist that engineers build every house in Nigeria, we would not build more than 10 per cent of the houses because we do not have the capacity.
“So what happens to the remaining 90 per cent of the houses?
“SON feels obliged now to use prescriptive approach by promoting the above types of cement.”
On the need to strengthen the organisation for effective monitoring, Odumodu said the ongoing amendment of the law that established SON was made to take care of the current limitations.
He said: “SON today has its own limitations.
“If you violate any portions of the Act as at now, the highest punishment is N50,000.
“So imagine a businessman who is prepared to import substandard goods worth two billion naira, he could just set aside N50,000 for his punishment.
“To me, that looks like an incentive than a punishment required to serve as deterrent.”
However, Odumodu said that the amendment of the Act had bestowed the Organisation “with sharp edged sword” to deal with the rampaging promotion of substandard products in the country.
He added: “It is interesting to note that the bill has sailed through the House of Representatives successfully and it is our hope that it enjoys similar treatment in the Senate.
“At the end of the day, a robust punishment would have been set to force people to do the right thing.”