By :Ogine Victor
The former Director-General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Prof. Danladi Matawali, has attributed the recent increase in the price of cement in the country to rapid inflation other than the quality of the product as speculated in different quarters.
Prof. Matawali made this known when briefing newsmen at the 10th edition of the NBRRI International Conference held in Abuja recently.
The Prof. who also attributed the increase in the price of cement to shortage of material revealed that researchers in the country have made a significant breakthrough in looking for a replacement of cement known as ‘Pozzolana’ which can serve as an alternative to cement in the construction industry.
According to the Former DG, “The Pozzolana plant was built in this institute (NBBRI); one is in Ogun state and one is situated in Plateau state. There are other researches currently going on in universities, trying to look at other partial replacement like agro waste, volcanic ash, soda; and I think we have to appeal to Nigerians to patronize these other options as much as possible in other to squarely address the issue of cement”
Mr. Matawali who described as unfortunate the lingering crisis currently affecting housing development in the country; appealed to Manufacturers of cement in Nigeria and also to the Cement Manufacturers Association to step up and try and bring down the price of cement in the country which is achievable; considering the fact that the product is locally sourced.
His words “Housing is very important, and if the prices of cement continue to jeopardize the effort of the likes of Festus Adebayo, NBRRI and all the rest of them who are making effort to address the over 10 million housing shortage in Nigeria, then it is unfortunate”
On the call for more investors into the cement sector, the Academic don noted that the need for more investors can only arise if natural resources are not adequately utilized, otherwise, the existing investors can sufficiently meet the cement needs of the teeming Nigerian population.
