Collapsed building: SON to fish out brickmakers using substandard materials in Ogun

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has vowed to fish out brick makers using substandard materials for block making in Ogun West Senatorial District of the state.

The State Coordinator of SON, Engr Jerome Umoru Otene, stated this during a meeting with block makers in the district as one of the measures to checkmate incessant building collapse in the country.

Otene hinted that the agency would commence the inspection exercise across the five local government areas in the senatorial district.

He noted that the time has come for the organisation to step up its surveillance, in order to put an end to the avoidable loss of lives that usually follow many building collapses.

“For the sacredness of lives involved in many of the recent collapsed buildings, we are ready to monitor the quality of materials been used in brick making. We are not going to allow individuals or groups with greedy mindset who have little or no respect at all for lives to continue wasting Nigerians citizens,” he said.

He explained that SON officials will be moving around with the support of security operatives, task force, and leadership of the Block Making Association in Yewa-Awori (NABMON) for easier identification of those who might be found wanting.

“During the exercise, whoever is found culpable would be handed over to the appropriate authority for proper prosecution. As a way of making them abide by the SON standard in the District, we are going to organise a workshop to orientate and remind the qualified ones among them the right and proper way to identify and make use of quality and standard material for brickmaking, and the technical-know-how.

“As a matter of concern, we would be looking forward to seeing certified makers of brick, culvert, ring and interlocking tiles in their numbers attend the workshop.

“Tentatively, the workshop would come up in the month of August this year where the pros and cons of brickmaking will be unravelled, such that the artisans themselves will know how best to produce a standard brick at affordable cost which we are sure will, in turn, make our society safer,” Otene assured. (Nigerian Tribune)