SON denies presence of sub-standard cement

Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has absolved cement manufacturers of any complicity in the incessant building collapse in the country, saying there was no sub-standard Cement in Nigeria.

Director-General, SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, made this known in Abuja at the SON 2014 management retreat.
He said contrary to the views of some “uninformed public”, it was sharp practices of the product by block makers that was partly responsible for incidence of collapse buildings.

The theme of this year’s retreat is titled: “SMEs and the industrialization of Nigeria, the role of standardization.”
The DG, who explained that there were different grades of Cement, added that “all cement companies are producing 32.5 and 42.5 per square meters of cement for concretes in the country.”

Confirming that Nigerian cement industry conformed to the highest international standards, he added that the industry was working with SON to ensure up-to-date testing, certification of products and quality norms.

“The quality of cement is not responsible for buildings collapse, our findings show that this often comes from concrete mixing. A bag of cement is meant to produce 30 blocks, but some people often use it to mould 50 blocks.

“Buildings collapse is not about the quality of cement, but the corruption and misapplication in mixing it for different purposes by the users. As of today in Nigeria, any block of 9 inches being sold for N200 is of low standard,” he said.

He said 32.5 grades of cement were supposed to be used for block making and plastering purposes and 42.5 concrete and heavy constructions.

He said in a bid to address the problem, SON would soon set up cement testing laboratories for block makers and other users in the country, stressing that the organization had been working with the stakeholders.

He also informed that the organization would soon compile the list of block makers that using the right quality cement and publish them in the media to further encourage them.

He, however, warned that any market where substandard products were sold in the country would be closed down.

He also explained that SON had been creating linkages with multinationals to ensure prosperity in the national economy inform of additional jobs and wealth creation through the small and medium enterprise (SMEs).

He said SMEs were the bedrock of any economy, explaining that the country was poised to leverage on them to create jobs.