President of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Prof. Sadiq Abubakar, has said the arbitrary hike in cement price is 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, yesterday
The Chairman of the Joint Committee, Gaza Jonathan Gbwefi, had summoned the Chairman of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria over the arbitrary hike in the price of cement.
The chairman of the association, who did not turn up for investigative hearing was summoned having failed to honour two previous invitations, according to the committee.
The committee also charged the association to desist from using frivolous court injunction to interfere or halt the ongoing investigation by the House.
Gbewfi said the failure of the cement manufacturers to appear before the committee was an affront to to the powers of the National Assembly.
Gbewfi threatened that there would be sanctions in accordance with the law if he failed to show up at the next hearing.
The COREN President said the increase was responsible for lowering the standards of infrastructure in the country.
“You will agree with me that is one of the key culprits of building collapse. I am trying to connect the hike of price of cement with the standardisation in our building and the direct connection of building collapse. Clearly, there is a connection with that and I think this is something we must interrogate,” Abubakar said.
Gbewfi, who agreed with the COREN president that the high cost of cement could be linked to building collapse, added it was responsible for increase in tenancy rates.
“Anything that has to do with livelihood should be treated as an emergency,” the committee chairman said.
