SON Begins Fight Against Fabricators Of Sub-standard Gas Cylinders

…DPR, NNPC, Others Form JWC To Sensitize Nigerians On Standards

By Kenneth Jukpor

Aggrieved by the influx of substandard Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders by unlicensed gas fabricators, the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has resolved to kick against such practices.

The Lagos Coordinator of SON, Engr. (Mrs.) Nwaoma Olujie made this statement while speaking during one of the sessions at the just concluded 12th edition of Oil Trading Logistics Expo (OTL), Africa Downstream Week.

She lamented that SON had identified two major locations of fabricated cylinders in Kano and Anambra States, noting that the cylinders tested in Aba busted below 40% when the ideal specification was 65%.

According to her, unregulated local manufacturing of the cylinder in Nigeria poses serious threat to the consumers and the agency would not hesitate to clamp-down on illegal gas cylinders and the manufacturers.

“We have identified locations where cylinders are manufactured in Anambra state and we noticed that the raw materials for these cylinders are of low quality. We raided the market and evacuated six truck loads of LPG cylinders. The wielding of the cylinders did not meet the requisite facilities” she said.

She revealed that SON had created a Joint-Working-Committee with representatives from other government agencies including; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among others to sensitize the Nigerian populace of the dangers of patronizing sub-standard gas cylinders.

She maintained that before local operators would be allowed to participate in the manufacturing of gas cylinders, they must meet the requisite specifications and acquire the appropriate facilities, adding that many Nigerians have declined usage of cooking gas because of the poor standards of gas cylinders and their potentials to explode.

“Sensitization is of essence because we need to education Nigerians about the usage of sub standard cylinders. In fact ,withdrawing of cylinders will attract sentiments but it is only here in Nigeria that we have gas cylinders with expiration dates and people continue filling it for usage”, she added.

Meanwhile, she encouraged private investors to set up testing centres for these cylinders, noting that the business was a lucrative one as developers of LPG cylinders would need frequent testing for requalification every five years and it wasn’t the responsibility of SON to develop such facilities.

Also speaking on the issue, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Petrowest Energy Limited, Mr. Reginald Stanley commended SON for its efforts on ensuring safety in the use of gas cylinders.