Group Challenges SON’S Cement Policy, Threatens Court Action

A non-governmental organisation, Alliance Against Monopoly,(AAM) has faulted the claim that the quality of cement used in the country was responsible for the incessant building collapse recorded so far across the nation.

It blamed it rather on the use of the wrong type of iron rods, use of unqualified personnel and the bribing of government official to get approval for building plan.

The group at press conference in Lagos, South West Nigeria made the observation while reacting to the latest guidelines by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, (SON) to regulate the cement industry in Nigeria.

President of the AAM, Mazi Omife Omife queried the new set of guidelines which gave a 60 ultimatum to cement manufacturer to comply with its directive on product labelling and traceability requirement.

Describing the policy as an attempt to introduce monopoly through the backdoor, the group said that the new policy will create division in the cement industry and that it is capable of creating monopoly.

“We therefore state categorically that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria 60 day ultimatum to cement manufacturers on product labelling and traceability requirement is wrong headed and designed to serve only the narrow interests of a cabal determined to hoist the monopoly in the nation’s cement industry. Such monopoly if left unchallenged will be detrimental to the Nigerian buying public and will ultimately stunt the growth of an otherwise vibrant cement market”, Omife said.

Omife stated: “The genesis of this macabre cement industry dance of SON was teh unwholesome cement standardization policy that pitted the three major grades in the cement industry: 32.5mpa, 42.5mpa and 52.5mpa against each other”.

The group explained further:”The SON inspired policy deliberately diluted the importance of the commonly used 32.5mpa grade thereby relegating it to the background and of the least importance in the buyers shopping list. This is in a market that has wholeheartedly embraced the 32.5mpa grade and had deployed that cement grade to good use most structures in Nigeria today stand to the credit of the 32.5mpa cement grade.”

Omife added:”The National Assembly complex, Abuja was built mainly with the 32.5mpa cement, the Cocoa House Ibadan and the Oriental Hotel Lagos saying that “the Cement standard in Nigeria prior to 2003 was an adaption of the British Standard, BS 12 (1989), BS 12 had no specifications corresponding to 32.5mpa.”

The group noted that there was no way any cement company least of WAPCO would have been producing 42.5 grade cement prior to 2003 as that grade was not exist as at then stressing that “all cement manufacturers were producing 32.5mpa grade cement on the introduction of the new standard in 2003.

The Group while attributing the introduction of the new policy to the Dangote Group said that the Dangote  Cement is trying to create a monopoly of the market saying that “Even in South Affrica, which has Africa’s most developed economy, the 32.5mpa grade is still pervasive. Indeed, the Dangote Group has significant interest in South Africa’s Sephaku, which is famous for its production with the 32.5mpa grade.”

The Group called on the government not to all the interest of an individual to kill the cement industry in Nigeria, which is a major employer of labour in the country stressing that the Nigerian Labour Congress is opposed to the new policy and has called on the SON to reverse it.

Group threaten to challenge the policy in court if its demand that the policy be reversed was not accented to stating that 60 day ultimatum was insufficient for manufacturers to retool its machinery to meet the SON new policy.