Investigations carried out in the nation’s markets where
construction materials are sold by LEADERSHIP revealed that the proliferation
of substandard iron rods in the country’s market portends grave danger to the
sector.
It was learnt that the trend was caused by the failure of
the country to effectively police its borders and the desire of the dealers to
maximize profit. They are said to sell a half diameter of high utensil imported
rod for between N350, 000 and N400, 000 per tonne, while the locally produced
iron rods sell for between N240,000 and N270 ,000 .
Professionals are worried because the iron rod is one of the
important components of building construction, being an important element of
reinforcing concrete. It takes care of the strength in structure. Thus, it is
very dangerous to use substandard iron rods in building construction to avoid
structural failure.
Our correspondent gathered from traders that the influx of
substandard iron bars was not being effectively monitored by the relevant
agencies in the country, resulting in the frequent cases of building collapse.
A trader in Matori Building Materials Market in Lago,
Alhaja Asabe , said though she bought her products from established
manufacturers such as Phoenix, Major and African Steel Company to avoid the
purchase of substandard iron products, she could not say where the fake iron
rods in the market emanated from.
According to her, “We don’t sell fake iron rods but those
involved in it do it to make quick money. To me, it is not a proper way of
doing business. Nobody is checking what comes into the country. We have porous
borders and anything just comes in from China. They will tell you it is
imported but when you use it, it will start to bend here and there and will not
last.”
As part of efforts to check the menace, the Lagos State government
established the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory to carry out integrity
test on iron rods from 12mm to 32mm size.
Source: Leadership
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