FG sources building materials, to save N2trn annually

The federal government is set to start production of building and construction materials locally as part of measures to reduce  import of building materials which amount to N2 trillion annually.  

The Director General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Professor Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, revealed this in a document released by the council.

• BREAKING: Inspector gunned down inside Ondo Police Station
• Kaduna train: How ransom blockade triggered hostage beating video

According to the document, the building and construction industry has several challenges, and that approximately 60 per cent of the total cost of a construction project is spent on materials.

The document shows that majority of electrical, roofing, window, sanitary, plumbing, etc, materials are mostly imported, with only a few notable ones manufactured in the country.

Daily Trust reports that the costs of building materials have increased significantly. Example, a bag of cement, which was Ν1,350 in 2006, went up to Ν1,850 in 2009 – about 37 per cent increment. The price rose to Ν2,000 in 2012. This year, 2022, the cost of cement is N4,000 per bag; which is 100 per cent increment compared to 2012.

These developments have multiplier effects on the industry, which in some cases result in non-completion of many projects.

But the federal government, through RMRDC, has noted that one of the major ways the country could reduce the high cost of conventional construction materials such as concrete, cement and steel was to promote the use of alternative materials. 

At the global level, RMRDC said solid wastes that were generated in large quantities were now being used as full or partial replacement for conventional materials in many developed countries.

The RMRDC document reads in part: “For instance, ashes from industrial and agricultural wastes such as fly ash and rice husk ash are used as pozzolan to partially replace cement in concrete production.

“This initiative is being promoted as production of cement and steel has significant environmental consequences.’

According to the document, based on a research carried out RMRDC, limestone is now being used for finishing of buildings in Nigeria, and that the council has also developed alkyd resin from local sources for production of paints.

The document reads further: “One of the major problems constraining the utilisation of locally available wood in the building and construction sector is that processors find it difficult to season it to about 12 per cent moisture content or below.   This problem has largely been solved by the development of wood seasoning kilns by RMRDC in collaboration with the Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu, and Palcon Nigeria Limited, also based in Enugu. The council has carried out a study on bamboo availability and utilisation in Nigeria. The study indicates that despite wide availability of bamboo in the country, it is not being significantly processed at industrial level. As a result, the council is collaborating with private sector investors to produce bamboo wall and tiles.”

RMRDC is presently collaborating with the New Materials Nigeria Company Limited, a member of the China National Building Materials Group (CNBM) wholly owned by the government of China, which has introduced a new innovative construction material known as fibre cement board into the Nigerian market. This makes Nigeria the first country outside China where an alternative to the gypsum board is being manufactured.

Most recently, the council collaborated with Ifrique Eco Solutions towards producing eco-friendly interlocking tiles. The tiles are made out of Low Density Poly Ethylene (LDPE) such as waste water sachets, bin bags, wrap plastics and almost all other polythene bags. They can also be made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or plastic bottles.

In addition, RMRDC is working with Ifrique Eco Solutions on upcycling discarded PET bottles to building bricks. This, the council said would also help to create over 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in addition to keeping the environment clean.

Prof Ibrahim said these initiatives would substantially reduce the price of raw building materials in Nigeria and also save the nation more than N2tn on annual basis in foreign exchange (forex) if the projects were commercialised.

But a building expert, Toyin Ajayi, warned that for these initiatives to be maintained and sustained, government as a matter of urgency must create appropriate means for delineation and implementation of research results.

He added that there was need for a policy that would enhance private-sector participation in the commercialisation of these research efforts, noting that it would significantly reduce the cost of building and construction locally.