Ogun government has warned operators of illegal gas skids, gas plants and gas retail outlets to adhere strictly to all safety regulations of the business or risk being shut down.
The Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Olatunji Odunlami, issued the warning during an interview with journalists on Wednesday in Abeokuta.
Odunlami expressed concern on the increasing number of operators who failed to comply with the safety regulations and obtain license from the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), in spite of several meetings with their associations.
He vowed to shut down more of such illegal gas outlets skids in other major towns and Abeokuta.
“We discovered from our monitoring activities that many of them (gas business operators), particularly the gas skids are just existing without necessary permit and suggest there is need for control.
“Before you set up the business, you must follow all the safety regulations. We cannot just allow gas explosion that will lead to loss of lives and property of our people.
“This is a responsible and responsive government and we take lives of our people seriously,”he said.
The state government had in 2020 sealed 13 gas skids in Ijebu-Ode for operating illegally, violating the safety provisions of the state’s physical planning regulations and that of the DPR as a regulatory agency.
The commissioner insisted that government would fish out all illegal operators and deal with them decisively.
“We started by dividing the state into different areas, to make it easier for us to carry out the exercise, we started with Ijebu-Ode and its environs. We just want people to know that we are ready to confront any illegal operators in the state.
“What we have done in Ijebu-Ode is just the beginning, we are going to other parts of the state. We are not saying you can’t do your business, but it must be within the ambit of the laws of the state; not even gas that has this potential to be destructive,” Odunlami said.
He said that operators who were in the habit of decanting, also known as “refilling” gas, instead of exchanging cylinders should desist.
