The director-general of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Prof. Danladi Matawal has restated the need for high quality cement to halt the trend of incessant collapse of buildings across the country.
He said there need for regulatory bodies to monitor cement factories in the country more closely, pointing out that that would make the factories to comply with specifications and standards in their productions.
“There should be a very clear guideline for regulations and that can be instituted simply. The regulators in the industry should come together and go on monitoring visits, on a regular basis, to the factories.
The NBRRI boss said laboratory testing was important to back up manufacturers’ claims on the quality of their cement, adding “it does not matter where the tests are done, as long as they are authentic”.
He also enjoined all cement manufacturers to always outline detailed information about their cement, their class and strength on the bags.
As part of the institute’s efforts to ensure standards in the building industry, Matawal disclosed that NBRRI had sponsored a post-graduate study on 14 cement brands.
He, however, said the quality of Nigerian cement had improved over the years as the results indicated that only one, out of the 14 brands tested fell below the minimum standard.
The NBRRI director-general advised that buyers should look out for certain tips when buying cement, which include how long the cement had been on the shelf, which should not exceed three months, depending on its exposure to weather.
