By Bisola Adeyemo
No fewer than 59 illegal cooking gas plants have been shutdown by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Lagos state, between the period of January to June for not complying with standards of operation.
The Assistant Director, Operations, DPR, Lagos Zonal Office, Mrs Olubunmi Ogundare, disclosed this during a surveillance operation on Friday, she led in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state.
According to Punch, eight gas plants located at Idimu, Ikotun-Egbe, Ipaja and Igando were sealed by the agency at the end of the operation.
Ogundare said the move was part of the agency’s oversight duty of monitoring activities of companies operating within the industry across the value chain.
Ogundare said the surveillance, which she described as a continuous exercise, was aimed at curbing the proliferation of LPG facilities and ensuring safety of lives and property of Nigerians.
Therefore, she advised Nigerians to report any illegal and unsafe LPG facility within their locality to the DPR for the regulatory agency to take necessary action.LPG facilities contravened the DPR guidelines for the establishment of LPG refilling plants and retailers outlets in Nigeria.
“You cannot operate LPG plant without applying for pertinent approval from DPR. For you to get this approval, you must go through three phases which take place stages from setting up the LPG facility, construction and commencement of operations.
“If you don’t have these pertinent approvals, you are not supposed to operate an LPG facility in Nigeria,” she said.
She therefore advised Nigerians to report any illegal and unsafe LPG facility within their locality to the DPR for the regulatory agency to take necessary action.