Group, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG) has alerted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the planned increase of cement price by some manufacturers and importers.

A statement signed by its National President, Sulaimon Yusuf and General Secretary, Adenike Ayanda said that cement manufacturers were planning an upward review of cement prices by early January.

The group with membership across the seven Built-Environment platforms stated further that plans were also on the way to increase the price of ready-mix concrete in addition to jerking up the cost of in-situ production of concrete.

They warned that if the increment is allowed to take place, the economic situation of the nation will worsen.

The statement reads: “Cement is an essential ingredient in the production of buildings. Frequency in the increase of its price has impacted negatively on the nation’s housing sector. Experience has shown that high prices of cement tend to encourage reduction in the quality of building production. The consequence of this is the emergence of weak buildings that intensifies the occurrence of building collapse.”

The group appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invite cement manufacturers for an urgent discussion in order to forestall the impending price increase.

BCPG asked the president to interrogate the current N5,700 market price of a 50kg bag of cement despite the N3,500 price of the product recently promised by one of the cement manufacturers.

According to them, any further increase in the price of cement will be a direct threat to the ‘Renewed Hope’ Housing Programme of the Federal Government.

The completion of ongoing building projects might be jeopardised by this impending hike, buildings abandoned during the process of construction aggravate the risk of building collapse, with the dwindling purchasing power; new buildings might lack patronage and occupants due to high rental value”.

“Efforts made by President Tinubu while he was Governor of Lagos State at attenuating building collapse syndrome were well documented in the BCPG records. As at the time he rounded up as the Governor of Lagos State in 2007, the market price of cement was N1, 300”.

They challenged the president not to relent in his past efforts at tackling the incessant collapse of buildings adding that his wealth of experience from Lagos on solutions to building collapse should be brought to bear on the national level to save Nigeria from the unenviable position of a nation that records frequent incidence of building collapse in the whole world.

They urged President Tinubu to pay serious attention to resolving the challenges of building collapse adding that frequent increase in the price of cement is one of the challenges. (The Nation)

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