In a concerted effort to curtail the spate of building collapse in Nigeria, leading cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc says it plans to establish a Block Moulders Academy.
The Academy, according to the Company, would be structured and equipped to support the seamless transfer of requisite skills to block makers and artisans in the real estate sector of the economy.
Speaking at the Dangote Special Day at the just concluded Africa International Housing Show in Abuja, Dangote Cement’s National Sales Director, Mrs. Fumi Sanni said the Academy has become necessary as most of the artisans and block makers are aging, while young men are not enthusiastic about the profession.
Mrs Sanni said one of the sure ways of curbing the phenomenon of building collapse is to check quackery, while imparting the needed skills to the block makers and artisans.
According to her, the company was also ready to support the block makers who will pass through the Academy with machineries and tools.
As part of the effort to ensure cement availability, Mrs. Sanni said the company has built over a hundred cement depots across Nigeria.
Speaking earlier, Dangote Cement Group’s Head, Sales and Marketing, Mr. Rabiu Umar said the Cement company has contributed enormously to development of the real estate sector through massive investments in cement, and making the product sufficiently available.
“Over twenty years ago, we were importing cement, today, we are exporting cement,” Mr. Umar said.
He identified some of the factors affecting the provision of housing in Nigeria to include; rapid urbanisation, high cost of land acquisition, rising cost of construction materials, lack of basic infrastructure, inaccurate housing demographics, poor funding/lack of access to affordable finance and inadequate policies.
“Towards helping to address housing shortages, Dangote Cement set up a department whose focus is to attend to the challenges and needs of real estate development in our market. The idea is to engage in project partnerships, collaborations, and participation in Real Estate development initiative in Nigeria,”he added.
“Part of our efforts towards ameliorating the housing shortage is by constructing large cement plants in Nigeria and many African countries. These plants ensure that the basic raw material in the housing sector, cement, is readily available in sufficient quantities.
“We have a dedicated fleet of trucks to deliver both bagged and bulk cement to customers and construction sites. We have established depots near all major markets, therefore bridging the distance between the plants and distributors.”
The company is currently training the artisans on appropriate mixture techniques.
The Africa International Housing Show is Africa’s biggest housing and construction expo, a forum that brings together all real estate stakeholders to discuss and explore ideas to promote Africa’s housing industry to the international market.
