DPR’S ongoing ‘sliding tackles’ against illegal LPG Plants in Nigeria

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• Author: Muyiwa Ige(LPG Stakeholder and Consultant)

The good-intentioned latitude and calculated hesitation of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria’s foremost LPG Industry regulatory agency, to fully enforce its entire LPG guidelines and regulations in the retail segment of Nigeria’s LPG industry, appears to have finally exceeded its breaking point.

Without any molecule of doubt, the country’s cooking gas industry wouldn’t have enjoyed the robust growth it has enjoyed, if the DPR had dispatched its fresh-looking officials to every nook and cranny to enforce its strict regulations and guidelines in every LPG Plant, from the inception of the country’s LPG industry revolution in 2007.

Rather unfortunately, this rare privilege and goodwill has been grossly abused by some operators in the industry.

It’s now commonplace to see LPG Skid plants in densely populated areas like markets. Some investors have flung caution to the wind by citing LPG plants under high tension cables, beside power transformers, very close to welders’ workshops, bakeries, canteens, primary schools and other dangerous/inappropriate locations.

Outrightly outrageous practices such as the use of substandard LPG tanks and the refilling of LPG very close to the road where exhaust pipes of vehicles or motorcycles can ignite LPG vapor, has been the perilous order of the day.

It therefore came as no surprise to discerning Nigerians when DPR rose gallantly to the occasion to restore some sanity in the industry by shutting down LPG plants in unsafe locations.

Cooking gas plants that are convincingly guilty of infractions such as failure to obtain operating license, lack of safety facilities and violation of approved plant design, were sealed and sanctioned.

As laudable as DPR’s initiative to prioritize the safety of Nigerians by forestalling gas explosions at LPG plants is, there’s a need for its officials to soft-pedal where it’s possible and show more sympathy to the Nigerians who have invested millions of naira to set-up LPG refilling plants in the country.

The DPR Field Office in Osogbo, Osun State, has been exemplary and deserves nothing short of a standing ovation, even in the aftermath of its statewide clampdown that resulted in the sealing of almost thirty LPG plants.

Its officials were very patient and helpful in explaining to operators that once they satisfied the stipulated conditions, they will be allowed to operate. The LPG plants in inappropriate locations were encouraged to secure suitable locations, while adequate light was shed on the misconception that small LPG tanks (2.5-5 MT) had been prohibited.

They were very willing to answer questions posed to them, and this has really gone a long way to prepare operators for what they need to do to remain in the business.

If this compassionate, yet, stern approach, is adopted by the DPR in all the state field offices nationwide, then the country’s LPG industry future remains very resplendent.