Indiscriminate citing of gas station a time bomb ―NALPGAM

THE Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) has called on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure compliance before issuing licence to would be gas plant operators just as it lamented that indiscriminate citing of gas plants without recourse to safety of the environment could be disastrous for the nation.

Outgoing president of NALPGAM, Basil Ogbuanu, made this appeal n in Benin on Friday while addressing the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).

He called on members of the association to explore the advantages in the industry, saying that less than 10 million Nigerians out of the about 160 million use gas, even as he stressed the need to deepen the use of gas in Nigeria.

He said, “If you go to some places when you see the way they display gas stations. It is a time bomb waiting to explode but I believe if the DPR can rise to the occasion, they will save us of this imminent danger. They should do something. DPR should so something nationwide, it is everywhere.

“I want use this opportunity to remind our members and regulatory agencies that a lot of people are coming into this business now with mind-set of profit alone and not talking about safety.

“We must continue to advocate and work closely with the DPR. They should go round because a lot of things is going wrong in this industry, especially when we are talking about the streets, we are not totally against it but we are against is indiscriminate positioning of these facilities.”

In his address, the newly elected President of the association, Mr Nosakhare Ogieva- Okunbor promised that his executive will collaborate with relevant agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources to ensure that training and manpower development was taken seriously.

He noted that most of the ugly incidents in the LPG industry was as a result of human error, saying that with update and regular training of staff of refilling plants, and enlightenment, human error will be reduced.

Those elected to run the affairs of the association are Mr Nosakhare Ogieva- Okunbor (President), Olatunbosun Oladapo (Vice President) Use Godwin (Financial Secretary), Ogunride Adebayo (Treasurer) and John Yakubu (PRO).