Ticking time bombs: Gas shops in residential areas

On Saturday January 4, a Professor of Physics and chairman of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Simon Mallam, went to have a hair cut at a barber’s shop at Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna metropolis full of life, but never returned home. Prof Mallam was among the six people whose plans, hopes and dreams for […]

On Saturday January 4, a Professor of Physics and chairman of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, Simon Mallam, went to have a hair cut at a barber’s shop at Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna metropolis full of life, but never returned home.

Prof Mallam was among the six people whose plans, hopes and dreams for the New Year were cut short as they met their untimely deaths following an explosion from a gas plant situated in Ungwan/Boro community in Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna.

The explosion was said to have occurred at about 2pm on Saturday at the gas shop opposite Total Filling Station Sabon Tasha as the attendants were refilling a cylinder for a customer.

Immediately the explosion occurred, the entire Sabon Tasha community and surrounding quarters were thrown into confusion as people ran in all directions out of fear.

As news of the explosion spread, people who have family members and friends working around the premises scene began frantic search for their loved ones.

People thronged the General Hospital Sabon Tasha, St. Gerald’s Hospital, and the Barau Dikko Hospital where the victims were taken to.

Apart from the professor, other casualties our correspondent learnt include customers who had gone to purchase gas, attendants and customers in nearby shops, as well as passersby.

An eye witness who gave his name as Philip Kambai said he was at a barber’s shop close to the gas shop for a hair cut alongside three other people when the explosion occurred.

He said: “They just finished barbing me and I was going out then I heard boom! I fell down, but I managed to get up. Then I saw fire, so I went behind and climbed a fence and in the process sustained injuries.

“One other person also climbed the fence, but I doubt if the barber and two others came out,” he said.

Apart from the human casualties, the raging inferno from the gas explosion destroyed property and goods worth millions of naira.

The Kaduna gas explosion is one out of the many incidents of gas explosions across the country that had led to needless loss of promising lives and destruction of property.

This has brought to the fore, the growing concerns over the proliferation of gas refilling plants, outlets and stations in residential, densely populated locations in many parts of the country with the attendant deadly consequences on the people.

The regulatory agencies, especially the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), seem not to have done enough in checkmating the activities of gas refilling plants that have continued to operate in residential areas and in most cases without licenses and required safety gadgets thus putting the lives of unsuspecting customers and members of the public at grave risks.

Following the Kaduna explosion, the Kaduna Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA) sealed 87 illegal roadside gas refilling outlets in the state.

The General Manager of the agency, Jibrin Lawal, disclosed this on Thursday while evacuating debris at the site of the gas explosion, which occurred on Saturday in Sabon Tasha, Chikun Local Government Area.

According to Lawal, the closure was in line with Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s directive, following the explosion in which five persons died and four others injured.

He said that the seal-up exercise was carried out simultaneously in three towns in the state, with 54 outlets in Kaduna metropolis, 25 in Zaria and eight in Kafanchan.

“The sealing of the gas outlets will be a continuous process as we are still receiving complaints from residents on locations of refilling outlets,” he said.

The KEPA boss said that gas refilling was a high-risk activity that should not be allowed close to residential areas.

Checks by our correspondents across many states of the federation revealed that gas plants and gas refilling outlets are still common sights in many residential areas and densely populated locations in major towns and environs.

In Kano, a resident of Hotoro quarters, Malam Aminu Musa, described as worrisome the alarming rate of proliferation of gas refilling outlets in residential areas without any consideration on the negative impacts on the inhabitants.

“You will see a cooking gas refilling outlet with a woman frying ‘akara’ (bean cake) nearby and that shows you how ignorant or careless people could be about the negative consequences of such activity,” he said.

Another gas user who expressed worries over the trend said there was urgent need for regulatory agencies such as the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to checkmate such in the interest of public safety.

The situation is similar in Awka and other major towns in Anambra State as gas outlets could be seen in residential locations.

Our correspondent reports that some of the cooking gas retail outlets are located within premises of filling stations without any precaution in an event of fire  outbreak.

For instance, one the filling stations harboring a gas plant in Agu-Awka area along Enugu-Awka Expressway is located in a residential area and also close to offices while the one around the Unizik Junction is observed to be operating close to a busy motor park in the area.

A resident of Awka, Okey Nwachukwu, said the danger involved in siting gas plants in residential areas was high and must be discouraged.

In the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, illegal Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) otherwise called cooking gas retail outlets continue to spread uncontrollably especially at residential areas.

A survey of illegal outlets by our reporter showed that these stations are mostly rampant at the satellite towns where the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) surveillance teams hardly have access to.

Illegal gas retail outlets, according to DPR regulations, are those that lack the standard minimum requirements like fire extinguishers, water sprinklers, temperature gauge, pressure and volume gauge, among others.

The survey which was carried specificially within the Abuja city centres in areas like Galadimawa, Lokogoma and Lugbe as well as other suburbs within the city centre, showed that the illegal operators sold gas in very dangerous circumstances.

At one location in Lugbe, our reporter saw an operator decanting cooking gas under energised electric poles which can easily trigger an explosion.

A resident of Games Village, Abiola Maryam, while speaking on the situation, blamed the DPR for not doing enough in checkmating the anomaly saying, “I feel a gas station in a residential area is a ticking time bomb.”

According to her, a comprehensive survey of all gas dispensing installations, stations and shops in the country must be carried out without delay, adding that those that are found to have breached established safety requirements should be closed down until they meet the standards.

Vanessa, a resident of Wuye, told Daily Trust Saturday that she doesn’t feel safe having a gas shop close to her house, saying the damage that could result in an event of explosion is unimaginable.

The DPR in recent time have embarked on monitoring and surveillance operations including shutting down illegal gas facilities within Abuja.

Some of the illegal plants that have been sealed include Leksherde Gas (Lokogoma), Amaco Gas Limited (Galadimawa), Frank Oil and Gas Ltd (Apo), and Lubran Limited (Lubgas Sunny Valle Estate).

According to the agency, Illegal retailers have been a problem to the DPR as all effort to get them registered so as to regulate the market have been unsuccessful.

The situation is not different in Port Harcourt as the sale of cooking gas in residential areas and its environs has been on the increase.

Some of the areas visited by our correspondent such as Woji, Diobu, Rumuokoro, D-Line, Old Port Harcourt/Aba road, Rumomasi, Eleme, Oyigbo  and Omagwa indicate that gas dealers were carrying out their activities within residential areas.

A retail gas dealer, Precious Uzor, who has been in the business since 2012, said she operates from her house because she doesn’t have money to set up a standard gas plant.

“We are extremely careful in handling the products. We take precautionary measures to ensure that the gas does not endanger the lives of people around us. We also make sure nobody goes close to the cylinder with light or magnetic objects,” she said.

Another dealer at Oyigbo, who did not want his identity disclosed for fear of being clamped down, said he sells retail gas in residential areas because he wants to be very close to his customers for better patronage.

Meanwhile, the zonal office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has commenced clamping down on illegal Liquefied Petrol Gas outlets in the state.

The department had directed LPG plant owners not to sell gas to any gas retailers who does not have valid licenses and all those operating illegally, whose activities endanger the lives of residents.

In Gombe State, investigations revealed that there are only two standard gas plants in the metropolis while most of the gas shops are located in residential areas and   streets/major roads.

Some of the residents told Daily Trust Saturdaythat they still patronize the roadside gas shops despite the dangers because they are cheaper and accessible.

“The only gas plant I know in Gombe is far away from the town, so it is easier for me to just visit any nearest gas shop to refill my cylinder whenever the need arises,” a customer at one of the shops said.

Another customer, Babangida Muhammad, said he preferred roadside gas shop despite the risk involved, because their gas is “of higher quality and lasts longer than that of the gas plants.”

However, a dealer of gas and cylinder, Ibrahim Muhammad Madaki, said the claim of the risk of operating gas shops in residential areas is mostly exaggerated.

He said they are licensed by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the agency monitors their activities periodically to assess their level of compliance with safety measures.

“We are duly licensed by the DPR and they do monitor our activities from time to time. On our part, we also take safety measures like provision of fire extinguishers and sand buckets in the event of any accident. We are also not allowed to operate near Suya joints, among others,” Madaki said.

According to him, most of the accidents recorded at gas shops were due to combining the cooking gas, oxygen and carbon used by welders in the same shop.

In Kaduna, our correspondent noticed that even after the Sabon Tasha fire incident in which six persons lost their lives, many gas shops still operate in residential areas.

One of the cooking gas dealers, Alhassan Sanusi, said he cannot afford to leave the business as that remains his only source of income.

For Olalekan Omotosho, a Kaduna-based businessman, it is not good to have cooking gas sellers close to houses because of the impending danger.

In Lagos, a check by our correspondent indicates that a number of the gas refilling outlets were situated in residential areas.

At a gas plant located at Orisunmibare in Alimosho local government, it was observed that there was a storey building by the right and a petrol filling station by the left.

The manager of the gas outlet however told our correspondent that there was no building in the area when the gas plant was sited there.

Reacting, the Head of Public Relations DPR

Abuja zonal office, Mr. Bulama Saidu said the DPR has been intensifying serious effort in collaboration with the police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of Development Control to clear all illegal gas dispensing facilities in Abuja.

He said: “If you observe, none of the accidents have happened within a DPR licenced facility, all the accidents we have witnessed so far haopened within illegal facilities. Once they cite these illegal facilities we invite Civil Defence or the police to arrest them (opetators). It is rather unfortunate that up till now, we have not witnessed any prosecution.”