The President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, has revealed that the arbitrary hike in cement prices is directly responsible for the increasing cases of building collapse in the country.
He said this at an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Solid Minerals, Industry, Commerce, and Special Duties on Monday, which aimed to probe the price increase.
This was as the Chairman of the Joint Committee, Hon Gaza Jonathan Gbwefi, summoned the Chairman of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria over the arbitrary hike in the price of cement in the country.
The Chairman of the association, who failed to attend the investigative hearing on Monday, was summoned after not appearing for two previous invitations, according to the Committee.
The Committee also charged the association to desist from using frivolous court injunctions to interfere with or halt the ongoing investigation by the House.
Gbwefi said that the failure of the cement manufacturers to appear before the committee was an affront to the powers of the National Assembly. He warned that there would be appropriate sanctions in accordance with the law if the Chairman failed to show up at the next hearing.
The COREN President said the increase in cement prices was responsible for lowering the standards of infrastructure in the country.
“You will agree with me that this is one of the key culprits of building collapse. I am trying to connect the hike in the price of cement with the standardization in our building and the direct connection to building collapse. Clearly, there is a connection, and I think this is something we must interrogate,” Prof. Abubakar said.
Gbwefi, who agreed with the COREN President that the cost of cement is directly related to building collapse, added that it also impacts tenancy rates.
“Anything that has to do with livelihood should be treated as an emergency,” the Committee Chairman said.
At the investigative hearing, the joint committee also questioned representatives of the Nigeria Building and Road Research Institute (NIBRID) and the Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Council (FCCPC) about the arbitrary price increase.
Gbwefi criticized the representative of the Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Ms. Boladale Adeyinka, for not doing enough to protect the consumers of cement in line with the Act establishing the agency. “You are a mother that has forgotten your children,” Gbwefi told the FCCPC representative.
