The 2nd Vice President Vice President, Nigeria Institute of Building, NIOB, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, who reacted to the development, said the hike may have been as a result of cost of production and the devaluation of the naira.
He said that with the hike, the cost of construction will increase while the need for cost variation in all ongoing contracts and abandonment of projects may become inevitable, adding that it may also discourage people from embarking on new projects.
“Clients, contractors and quantity surveyors may have disagreements due to price variations. New price on old contracts in a competitive bidding may eventually lead to sub-standardisation in construction,”Awobodu said.
A bag of cement had cost about N1, 600 before the hike, thus marking over 35 per cent rise in the cost of the raw material used in the building and construction industry.
