Rullion's Blog

International construction companies may be suffering from the economic downturn in Europe and North America but investment has never been greater in Africa. In common with any time over the past three years, the port sector continues to attract massive investment. Rising trade volumes and growing economic confidence are driving growth, while also underpinning a renaissance in road and rail construction. 

The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, yesterday proposed death penalty for owners and quacks involved in the construction of any collapsed building in the country. The council also called for conduct of quality assurance of all cement manufacturing companies nationwide to stem the increasing rate of building collapse. COREN made the call before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the investigation of the composition and pigmentation of cement in the country to stem the serial incidents of collapse buildings. COREN President, Ali Kasim, called for additional statutory powers that would enable the council to prosecute owners and quacks involved in the erection of structures that collapse. Kasim sought for inclusion of incidents of collapse building as criminal acts and stressed the need for imposition of stiffer penalties for those who engaged quacks for construction of any collapsed building. The president, however, no...

For the building and construction industry in Nigeria, growth prospect is very high and expectation among industry players is that by 2020, the country, alongside India, will enjoy higher growth rates than notable nations like China, predicting that by 2021, the industry will triple its investment value. The contribution and impact of this industry to the economy cannot be neglected as it has become a veritable index when it comes to employment generation for both skilled and unskilled employment in Nigeria, and it is estimated that this industry contributes 3.2 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Solomon Ogunbusola, president, Federation of Construction Industries (FOCI), who gave these hints, pointed out, however, that despite these prospects, the state of the nation’s economy has somewhat overstretched members of the association as they task themselves to meet up with contracts awarded to them at various levels. He added that these members operate under ser...