PROPERTY ARTICLES

Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. John Akanya, in an interview recently spoke to a team of media executives on alleged lacklustre performance by the standards watchdog in checking the influx of fake and sub-standard materials into the country. But the SON boss says the body is not to be blamed, stressing that unhealthy rivalry among industry professionals on one hand and the average Nigerian businessman's resolve to import low quality goods on the other are the major reasons for the impasse. HOUSES & HOMES EDITOR, Michael Simire, was at the session. Excerpts:

There have been complaints of the presence of sub-standard iron rods in the market. How would you respond to this?

We cannot go to the factories that are outside this country to inspect them. That is why we came up with a programme called the Standard Organisation of Nigeria Offshore Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP), which is our offshore assessment programme to make sure that fake and sub-standard goods are not allowed into the country. Unfortunately, people are importing or smuggling in iron rods from across the border and other unapproved routes and we cannot be held responsible for that because there are designated security agencies on our borders.

We can only have full control on products when they are manufactured locally within our borders. For any other one, what we do is to register them. One can ascertain that a particular iron rod is a fake by putting the product into a process of test through specified criteria after ascertaining exactly what one is looking for. It needs to be established what the purpose of investigation is. If it is the chemical composition, one would be investigating the percentage of carbon that makes up the strength of the iron and the other essential components such as manganese before it can be said to be sub-standard. It is not by the length of the iron rod that you identify a sub-standard one by scientifically testing its tensile strength. People should, therefore, stop making statements that are not based on scientific proof but crass ignorance for publicity stunts and other mundane reasons to attract attention.

What is the role of SON in the standardisation of the building sector?

SON has a lot of roles in the standardisation of the building sector. Standardisation here is in terms of the quality of materials used in the building production.

Professionals in the built environment industry owe it a duty to their clients and the public at large to make sure that quality materials are used in the right composition and proportion according to the material standards specified by SON.

We specify minimum standards and composition for building material components, including cement, iron rods, nails, roofing sheets, ceiling boards, electrical cables, plumbing materials and these standards can be obtained from our library. For a building to stand the test of time, these specified items must be put together by the compliment of professionals involved in the building by specific calculation of quantities by the quantity surveyors, who are the cost economists in the sector.

When the quantity surveyor specify, the engineer must have the capacity to put those quantities together to the desired specifications. However, for the desired strength, the engineers must be able to calculate from available materials what length or diameter would give the desired strength.

Now, an agency that specifies the standard like SON is not a part of this compliment of professionals in the construction process. So, our job finishes at the stage of elaborations of these specifications. The name callings when ever a building collapses is borne out of plain mischief and ignorance, it has nothing to do with SON and the blame should totally be put at the doorstep of the relevant professionals in the sector. For instance, if reinforcing bar is supposed to be made of 15 centimetres in length and it turns out to be eight centimetres, does it make the reinforcing bar substandard? A competent engineer should be able to calculate the quantities that are needed despite the length deficiency be able to make up the strength that is needed. That is where professional competence comes, but if a professional goes to the market and buys a deficient product and fails to make up for the strength then it is unfortunate and smacks of professional incompetence.

Why do you think that we have this gap among the professionals in the sector?

It is simply because they are not organised, they are busy fighting themselves and making room for quacks to take over their responsibilities. This lapse has caused the society a lot in terms of human and material losses. They don't seem to be able to agree on who should lead the sector among them. It is either the architect or engineer is insisting that he is the leader of the team or they are quarrelling about specific responsibilities among themselves.

I want to use this opportunity to advise these professionals to sit down and search their hearts and review the injustice they are doing to this country in terms of losses and redress them with immediate effect.

Why then are the professionals not abiding with the standard requirements in the sector?

I could postulate, but l may be wrong. It could be due to the economic situation in the country. A person, who is not qualified or outright greedy is liable to do anything. A student, who has not read for an exam can cheat in the examination. The quackery and lack of coordination in the sector means that there is no order or coordination, for a long time it had been a case of the survivor of the fittest.

Nigerian cables are known to be one of the best in the world. How were you able to achieve the feat in terms of standard specifications and compliance?

It took us time because in setting the standards we had to work with different experts from different parts of the world. We took into consideration our geographical and environmental conditions and experiences. It is a life danger item and, therefore, needs to be well specified. This can be likened to standard specifications for the aircraft, which is said to be the safest means of travelling that, therefore, attracts a lot of researches and developments. It is the same thing with life danger item like cables, a lot of researches and developments went into its specification to see that a lot of security precautions went into it. Our temperature and characteristics as a people is enough to make our cables specific with our environment.

Why do you think paints are mostly faked in this country? Could this be due to the fact there is no direct danger to life or that the venture is simply very profitable?

Our paints standards are the most specified. Some of paints manufactured in the country are used in deep-sea painting. They are of very high quality that year in year out, the ship is not corroded and to the extent that the chemical reaction of salt does not affect it.

In another scenario, paint is a product that is vulnerable to contamination. You can decide to manufacture paints in your house without anybody seeing you. From experience, those we have caught faking paints are mainly those who have some kind of knowledge on its manufacture having worked in a paint company before deciding to start manufacturing paints in their houses. When it is manufactured by this set of people the quality specification for quality product are not complied with and because it is a vulnerable product that can be contaminated easily anywhere, people easily fall victim.

Over the years, we have found out that these contaminated paints are put into the cans of reputable companies. As a guide to get the best from its usage we advise that the person applying the paint should also abide by the manufacturers specification. That is why we insist that professionals must supervise their use and there is no alternative to that.

It is different from, for instance, the manufacture of iron rods, which you cannot manufacture in your house except in a factory and if for whatever reason it is faked in a factory we can easily trace it.

What are some of SON's collaborative efforts with relevant stakeholders?

Long ago when we saw that some of the stakeholders were not doing what they were supposed to do, we made attempts to coordinate them. In pursuance of that, we had series of discussions with the relevant stakeholders in the sector and came up with the National Building Code, where specifications were outlined for every professional group in the sector. The document is enough to start the baseline for the building sector in this country. It was handed over to the professionals in the sector, but up to this day, they have not found it necessary to adopt it. There is no country in the world where products are not in grades, but here in Nigeria everybody is looking for cheap products. Cheap product is never cheap because it is one of the expensive things to buy.

What should be done to sanitise the sector?

Quacks are deceiving so many people in the building sector and Nigeria has been losing millions to this set of people. If you put a 10-storey building on a foundation made for a two-storey building, it would collapse. These professionals should stop deceiving Nigerians on the causes of collapse of building, but face the fact that they are shirking their professional responsibilities. Government should work on a law that would mete out stiff penalties on people liable for collapse of building. The professionals should have internal checks on their colleagues to sanitise the sector and stop blaming SON for every building collapse. We are currently doing public sensitisation and having meetings with NGOs. We have gone round the country, worked with different agencies in local and state levels. For instance, we organised sandcrete block makers into groups and allowed them to do self-regulation. We also designed a machine to make it easy for them to test the strength of the blocks even after it is made before pushing it to the public. Furthermore, we have done markings on iron rods from different manufacturers for quick identification. All these we have put in place to bring sanity to the sector. Again, the professional groups need internal cleansing. For instance, why should architects allow draughtsmen to take over their jobs and engineers allow a bricklayer to act as an engineer?

With all these challenges, would you say that MANCAP and SONCAP have been a success in standardisation of locally made and imported products?

The Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme (MANCAP) has been a success, our quality mark can be easily seen on locally made products, we have been exporting these products and none have been returned. We are moving on in our quest for quality and standardisation because quality is a moving target. People are not crying over made in Nigeria products like the ones imported from China and other Asian countries. The Standard Organisation of Nigeria Offshore Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) are for imported products where we have approved agents in some designated countries abroad to assess products and make sure that they conform to standards and quality specifications before being allowed into the country.

Does SON satisfy you with its level of regulation in the sector?

For things coming in, it is only when they come in that we can regulate them and we can only regulate through the standards in place. We should ask ourselves why our businessmen prefer to go to China and import sub-standard products rather than superior products. The SONCAP programme is put in place to check goods offshore before they find themselves in our shores and what we do here is simply confirmation. So, if every agency does it work, fake and sub-standard materials will not find themselves in our country. Ours is to put standards in place and for people to comply with it, including those who are going to buy it in the market. We must get to a point where our people will be able to reject substandard products and refuse to patronise the importers, thereby putting them out of business. We have consumer complaints desk that monitors the standards using the specifications in the standards and other quality assurance activity in addition to visiting the factories.

We are in possession of some fake SONCAP certificates that Nigerians forged and try to bring in sub-standard products into the country.