By Kehinde Aderemi
In Nigeria, one problem that has consistently remained unsolvable is the challenge of building collapse. Virtually every week, the various media platforms are awash with stories of buildings collapsing across the country.
And expectedly, whenever a building collapses, stakeholders in the building sector begin to apportion blames. While some would blame the government, others give knocks to contractors.
Experts have adduced a number of factors as being responsible for the collapse of buildings. These include the use of substandard building materials, building without proper specification and the engagement of quacks masquerading as experienced contractors and professional engineers.
These and other issues formed the theme of the discussion at a recent gathering, where top managers of Lafarge Africa, a leading cement-producing firm in the country, engaged journalists on the need to avoid building collapse and the way out of the problem. Officials of the firm also took the reporters through the production activities of the company.
Head, Corporate Communications of the company, Osagie Ogunbor, led other journalists that toured the firm’s two plants at Ewekoro in Ogun State. All the managers that spoke at the parley admitted that the use of substandard building materials was a major reason for building collapse. They added that Lafarge, as one of the major stakeholders in the sector had succeeded in breaking new grounds by producing the best products for builders and contractors. They added that quality service remained the focus of the company. Shortly after the meeting, the journalists went on a facility tour of the firm.
“Over the years, we have evolved greatly, breaking new grounds in cement production. One of our major success stories at Lafarge is that a large percentage of our top managers are Nigerians. This is our localisation policy, whereby Nigeria’ s professionals with long years of experiences in the sector are deeply involved in the management of the company. For several years now, we have keyed into the system and it is yielding results. At Lafarge Africa, the idea of bringing expatriates to manage the business has long become dated. As a company, our core values are tailored toward the safety of our employees. That showed to a great extent, how safety remains the first priority. All the machines and equipment used in the company are automated,” Segun Soyoye, the Plant Manager, said.
While explaining the operations and activities of the company, he noted that health and safety were very sacrosanct at Lafarge. He explained further that the company’s aim is to satisfy its numerous customers and its over 100, 000 employees, adding that their products are tailored toward customer’ s needs.
“For two years now, we have recorded no loss time due to injury or accident. It is noteworthy that before we do anything here, we do risk assessments. The bottom line is that we understand that our customer focus is based on integrity and compliance.”
Soyoye explained further that Lafarge has recorded tremendous growth, becoming one of the biggest cement companies in the world. He said the company, through the Ewekoro Plant sufficiently generates about 90 megawatts of power, running its business daily on gas. He informed that plans are underway to distribute 30 megawatts of the power generated by the company to the national grid. Soyoye also stressed that the major milestone recorded last year by the company was the transition from formal fuel to alternative fuel.
“We have acquired 134 hectares of land where we planted trees. These trees would be burnt to serve as alternatives to gas and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO),” he added.
He also spoke about Lafarge’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, especially in the firm’s host communities.
“Over the years, we have built a reliable relationship based on our good understanding of our environment. All the communities, including Oke- Oko, Sekoni Egbado in Ewekoro have enjoyed our CSR programmes. We built health centres, we built police stations and we run free professional courses and a three-year educational programme mainly for indigenes of these communities. “These and many others are part of our plans to sustain and empower the people of these communities,” he said.
Production manager, Bem Awuhe, and environment manager Olufunke Madojutimi, led the Lafarge team that conducted the journalists on the facility tour. Both officials listed shortage of gas, insecurity, rise in import tariffs, multiple taxation and haulage costs, among others, as some of the challenges being faced by the company in getting the products to the doorsteps of their customers across the country.