By Christiana Ekpa
The House of Representatives on Wednesday decried the non-testing and proliferation of expired gas cylinders currently in circulation across the country.
The House also asked the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to design a strategy to regulate the use of old gas cylinders as well as enforce the withdrawal and replacement of expired gas cylinders from circulation.
It mandated the Committee on Gas Resources to ensure implementation and report within four weeks for further legislative action.
These followed a motion on the Need to Replace the Expired Cooking Gas Cylinders in Nigeria by Hon. Sergius Ose Ogun on Wednesday.
The House noted that over 9million people in Nigeria utilize Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for cooking and 90% of the LPG/cooking gas are contained in expired cylinders.
It also noted that the cylinders outlive their safety limits after 15 years and most cylinders in Nigeria are over 30 years old making them very dangerous for use.
The House said it was aware of the need to invest in-cylinder operating plants and to have cylinder recycling plants as the community lacks cylinder plants.
It said it was also aware that investment in the local production of gas cylinders will allow for the affordable replacement of old/obsolete cylinders.
The House was disturbed that the continued use of old cylinders can cause explosions especially in poorly controlled environments.
It recalled that there have been numerous incidences of cooking gas explosions in Nigeria, a case in point being the gas cylinder explosion in Anambra State in 2017, that led to the loss of lives and destruction of properties.
