Manufacturer debunks cement as cause of collapsed buildings

A lot of times, cement is pointed out as the sole cause of collapsed buildings.

Now, LafargeHolcim is shooting down these claims saying, “cement standard is not responsible for building collapse.”

According to Tope Arowolo, a representative of the company at the 45th Builders’ Conference and Annual General Meeting of the NIOB, lack of skills and the use of sub-standard building materials are to blame for collapsed buildings.

He added that research had shown that cement standard was not responsible for building collapse.

“I want to debunk the impression that cement is the cause of building collapse; cement is not and LafargeHolcim is known for quality. What causes building collapse most of the time is the usage of sub-standard materials and poor construction skills among the artisans. That is why one of the topics that we are discussing at this forum is safety and training of artisans. LafargeHolcim, in collaboration with the Cement Technology Institute of Nigeria and the Industrial Training Fund, is training artisans in all the geo-political zones of the country."

“We have trained 2,000 artisans because they are very important in the construction and building industry. We need to train as many artisans as possible in order to check building collapse in Nigeria. Lafarge is rolling out many training programmes for bricklayers and block moulders. We are also collaborating with Shelter Watch on skill acquisition.”

On the reason for the training, the President, NIOB, Tunde Lasaki, said, "we have gone round the country and found out that poor skills and inadequate training are some of the things that cause building collapse."

On a permanent solution to collapsed buildings, he called on supervising artisans to perform their duties as they are important partners in the industry, "the National Building Code, 2006 states that supervision of artisans rest on the shoulders of builders."