...........
The Federal Government has issued new mandatory directives to Sandcrete and allied product manufacturers to commence the stamping of cement blocks as well as adopt a set of colour codes for cement bags, to denote the three different cement grades.
The government expects that the new regulations which will be enforced by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON will help in checkmating the spate of building collapses in Nigeria.
The new development which was witnessed by the media and stakeholders drawn from the various sub-sectors of the building and construction industry was flagged off in Lagos by the Minister of State for Industry Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom.
Dr. Ortom noted that the new regulations were in alignment with government’s aspiration for safe and affordable housing for the nation. He noted that the recent review of the Nigerian Industrial Standard for cement which addressed among other issues, correct labelling to guide user’s application was also in furtherance of continual improvement as required in standardisation.
“I wish to flag off the mandatory certification of Sandcrete blocks moulded in Nigeria and direct SON to commence implementation of the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) for all locally manufactured products in Nigeria.
“It is therefore important to ensure mass sensitisation of stakeholders nationwide on the new labelling requirement part of which this occasion is set to achieve. To the benefit of the Nigerian
economy, I hereby unveil the newly approved cement packaging/labelling in line with the recently approved NIS and with a view to safe-guarding lives through compliance to standards,” he said.
economy, I hereby unveil the newly approved cement packaging/labelling in line with the recently approved NIS and with a view to safe-guarding lives through compliance to standards,” he said.
Under the new dispensation, unique colour stripes would be deployed in differentiating the various grades of cement: blue for 32.5, to be used for plastering only; yellow for 42.5, to be used for casting of beams and block moulding and red for the 52.5, to be used for constructing bridges and other specialised applications.
Also, for an effective monitoring and certification of sandcrete blocks standard NIS 587:2007 by SON, block-makers , henceforth must stamp their names/trademarks on the blocks for identification.
In his remarks, the Director General of SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, explained that the agency will ensure among other things, that dealers are certified over time to ensure that they sell only the right
materials; secondly that every material must be certified from the factory and thirdly that consumers must know what they are buying.
materials; secondly that every material must be certified from the factory and thirdly that consumers must know what they are buying.
He said it was critical that if an engineer prescribes 42.5 grade of cement, the builder does not go to the market and buy 32.5, which can lead to the failure of the structure.
“We are also saying that town planning and building control agents must certify builders, all builders in every state must be certified by the state government, so that when somebody wants to build and brings the plan for approval, the approval must go with the materials’ sources and the builder, because you can have the right materials but if the wrong person builds for you, that structure may collapse.
“We need to have the courage to do what is right in preventing building collapses in Nigeria, if we don’t then it is just a matter of time before we have more buildings collapsing across the country,” he said.
The agency also directed manufacturers of blocks and allied products to collect MANCAP application forms for products certification from its state offices in charge of their operations.
.....................
Post a Comment