Review on the Suitability of Bamboo as a Building Material in Nigeria

Bamboo is adjudged to be a very good sustainable, versatile and eco-friendly building material. It grows naturally in most of the world’s forests especially in tropics and sub-tropical regions. Bamboo is the fastest growing grass in the world and matures within three to five years. It consumes carbon (iv) oxide (the major greenhouse gas) in the environment through photosynthesis and releases oxygen to the environment thereby drastically reducing the greenhouse gases and making the environment safe. Throughout the entire globe, there is increase in human population. As the number of humans in the world increases, there is proportional increase in the need for shelter and other civil infrastructures. This increase in need for shelter and other civil infrastructures has resulted in over-consumption of traditional building materials and has created serious burden on the depleting world’s natural resources. Continuous use of the traditional building materials like steel, timber, cement, has also led to increase in the burning of fossil fuels which releases greenhouse gases to the environment during their production. Nevertheless, traditional building materials are very expensive and their continuous use leads to increase in the overall cost of buildings and other civil infrastructures. The use of bamboo as a material for construction of buildings and other civil infrastructures presents a very huge relief to the aforementioned problems encountered in the construction industry. This paper x-rays the viability of bamboo as construction material in Nigeria. Increase in the use of bamboo in the construction industry will lead to reduction in the overall construction cost, growing bamboo in commercial quantity and reduction of greenhouse gases in the environment