The Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), the umbrella body for the LPG industry in Nigeria, is collaborating with government regulatory agencies to prevent the incidence of explosion in gas plants across the country.
Besides, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), said it has commenced an inquest into the fire incident that claimed two lives at the Second Coming Company, a gas plant in Magodo, Lagos.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos, the Vice President, NLPGA, Nuhu Yakubu, said the Association through its Safety and Technical Committee, has been cooperating with regulatory bodies through capacity building programmes on disaster management; development of standards and operating guidelines in line with best practices; and campaigns for the elimination of bad practices.
Yakubu said the industry holds as its ultimate objective the promotion of the safe use of this exceptional form of energy for the benefit of Nigeria and Nigerians.
According to him, the association, which comprises producers; terminal and plant operators; and government regulatory agencies, has indeed been saddened by the recent gas related safety incidents in the Country. “Our hearts ache as we reflect on these unfortunate incidents and we commiserate with those who were directly and indirectly affected,” he added.
He said the recent events in the industry have highlighted the need to address the three overarching sector objectives of safe handling and best practises in LPG; loss of containment (prevention of gas leaks); and successful disaster management.
Yakubu stated: “As an Association we are at the forefront of championing specific and impactful actions to mitigate incidents and accidents. Central to this is a robust program to educate all stakeholders along the value chain, which means every participant in the industry from supply side.
“The NLPGA Safety and Technical Committee have been working on programmes to address the three main objectives along specific target groups in awareness building, and training on the safe storage and use of LPG; education on best practices for installations in homes and high rise building and certification programme for installers.”
He disclosed that the association is ready to also train truck drivers on the safe loading and unloading of LPG, train operators, managers and supervisors on the safe operation of plant equipment according to global best practices as well as train and certifify installers of equipment and piping systems.
Speaking during the inspection of the site of the gas explosion in Lagos, the Director DPR, Mordecai Ladan, said all parties involved will be invited for interrogation to know the cause of the fire incident, and what to do next.He said the inquest, which would commence immediately after the inspection, would last for three weeks, after which the Department would determine the fate of the gas plant.
“Most time gas plant fire incident used to be as a result of poor management attitude or lack of corrective measure. The Department always holds quarterly interactive forum with the association of cooking gas plants owners to warn them of fire incident especially during harmattan period. The fire incident here is very devastating,” he said.
Ladan disclosed that the Second Coming Gas Plant was licensed in 1996, when there was no structure in the area.
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