•Acquires modern testing equipment
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has inaugurated an Ad-hoc Committee of its top officials and other experts in the oil & gas sector to sanitise operations in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) industry.
Inaugurating the team in Lagos, its Director-General, Osita Aboloma, said the objective was to address the challenges and dangers faced by sub-standard petroleum products.
“We are setting up this committee because we want them to serve as the society’s watchdogs and identify latest equipment and products that are used in the discharge and sale of LPG items.
“The committee will also certify both old and new equipment such as storage tanks, vessels, cylinders and other things to make them safer to bring about improved service delivery in that sector,” the SON boss said.
The committee’s terms of reference are to sanitise the LPG sector, ensure professional and ethical practices by operators in the filling plants and retailers’ shops; report any incident of unethical practice and substandard products to SON especially roadside and illegal fabricators of substandard LPG tanks and cylinders.
The committee is also expected to draw a strategy for the LPG cylinder re-qualification scheme, the withdrawal of old and substandard LPG cylinders from circulation, submit to the Director General within three months for consideration and approval for implementation as well as come up with recommendations from time to time to move the LPG sector forward as it relates to SON mandate.
The Director, National Metrology Institute, Obiora Manafa, said the committee’s terms of reference were very clear, adding that the committee would work relentlessly to sanitise the sector.
“We would ensure that new and obsolete tanks, vessels, cylinders are certified before use. I want to implore all of us to give our time, expertise and commitment to ensure the success of this national assignment. We are going to achieve this mandate because the terms of reference are very clear,” he said.
The Deputy President, Nigeria LPG Association (NLPGA), Nuhu Yakubu, said the committee would continue to provide its support and harness the existing partnership with SON.
The National Treasurer, Nigerian Association of LPG Marketers, Ogunrinde Adebayo, maintained that the committee would be committed to the cause of protecting lives and property of Nigerians as well as investments.
The agency has also taken delivery of modern testing equipment to tackle the incidence of gas explosions in the nation’s oil & gas industry.
SON said it was concerned by the incessant explosion, destruction of lives and property caused by substandard Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) products hence, its decisive step to acquire three state-of-the-art pressure testing equipment to reduce the menace to the barest minimum.
SON stated that the three latest equipment located in Abuja, Enugu and Lagos, would help to test the strength of materials and capacities of LPG vessels, cylinders and allied products across the country.
Aboloma stated that SON has invested heavily in human and capital resources to ensure the proper and effective use of the equipment.
“We have invested heavily in terms of human and capital resources in training and acquiring state-of-the-art LPG testing equipment. We have sent our engineers outside the country to learn what it takes to address the challenges of substandard LPG in a modern economy. I think in a matter of time these explosions will be a thing of the past,” he said.
