To CSEB or NOT to CSEB
Channel: Stephen Inji Makama
Date: 2022-04-26

This is a pilot to a Documentary on CSEB in technology. As a CSEB practitioner in Nigeria, West Africa, the questions for me are :
* Has the technology FAILED?
* Why hasn't the technology moved on from its inception in the 1990s.
*What can we do to move the technology and Conversation forward?
* Is someone afraid of admitting the failure of the technology in Nigeria?

“in the eyes of the prevailing, indigenous social order, permanence was far less critical than potential social disruption”…
Labelle Prussin

Has Compressed Stabilized Earth Brick Technology failed in Nigeria? If Nigeria the most populous black nation has not caught and adopted and reinvigorated the technology then it is most likely the only option is that the technology has failed. 
What happens next? Do we, the practitioners, the professionals, the enthusiasts then pack up the molding presses and store them in shipping containers? Absolutely not! There needs to be a new approach. Where does this new approach begin? How does it begin? 
For centuries the traditional architectural technology practice in most of Africa and by Africans was (and in many areas still) composed primarily of earthen material and vegetal matter- adobe, wattle, and daub, some low-intensity form of fired bricks. It was simple and rudimentary achieving its purpose of providing shelter for man and animal and for the construction of food storage facilities. This technology worked for the African and inadvertently was an unconscious study in the solution to the climatic condition in which the African found themselves.

In Nigeria, many reasons may have been responsible. Several reasons stand out namely: impatience with the process, lack of adequate information on the actual manipulation and construction, unskilled partisanship, and most importantly a bias toward the earthen nature of the material.

The evidence is evident all around the Nigerian building and construction industry (empirical data is being gathered to scientifically show the nature of the problem). It is no hidden knowledge that amongst the bulk of the capital projects embarked upon and being embarked on by governments one hardly sees the patronizing of CSEB technology. Most of the use of the technology comes as a result of private developers who are enthusiasts and are willing o take the ‘plunge’ in spite of the challenges noted namely;  impatience with the process, lack of adequate information on the actual manipulation, and construction, unskilled artisanship and most importantly a bias toward the earthen nature of the material.

I have been privileged to serve as a resource person for 2 key training/workshops in Nigeria sponsored by the European Union and GIZ and another by the Center for Earth Construction Technology (CecTech.), to train Building Artisans ( and retrain CechTech staff) on all Aspects of Compressed Stabilized Earth Brick Technology. 

The experience has been an opportunity to engage with participants many of whom are graduates of different fields/disciplines, farmers, tradesmen, women, etc. A primary takeaway has been the excitement and desire to undertake the technology by the participants - which unfortunately dissipates due to lack of follow up of the training and significantly by the policy makers.

Even if CSEB / CEB has 'failed' as a technology it does not mean it cannot 
 be re-innovated and reintroduced and salvaged. The success story of the South African 'hydraform' compressed stabilized earth brick technology story is hinged on the Nigerian 'failure'. Two Nigerian experts traveled to South Africa with a locally improved and manufactured molding machine and conducted training on CSEB there.  The rest is history as the South Africans gazed into the crystal ball and forged ahead. Today the 'hydraform' story is an institution.  


My desire is to recreate the Nigerian CSEB story.