The Nigerian government said deploying the flagship Amal gas leak detection device will accelerate the country’s adoption of compressed natural gas (CNG), a preferred energy source for homes, transportation, and industry.
The minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, made this known during the Commissioning of Amal Technologies Gas Leak Detection and Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing Facility in Idu, Abuja, on Thursday.
This is as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB), said the technology will end the menace of recurring gas explosions across the country and create massive jobs in the sector.
Lokpobiri, who was represented by the director, Upstream, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Engr. Kamoru Busari noted the event represents a significant landmark in Nigeria’s quest to promote research culture in the oil and gas industry, through the nurturing of innovation-driven startup companies. It also represents a breakthrough in local manufacturing of electronic circuitry and devices.
According to him, the unveiling of the gas leak detection facility is a major plus for the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu in deepening gas penetration and industrialisation anchored by liquid petroleum gas and the adoption of CNG.
He said the government’s projects are underway to establish fuel-to-gas conversion centres and CNG refuel stations nationwide to achieve net zero.
“A major plank under the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President’s commitment to deepen gas penetration and gas-based industrialisation anchored on the penetration of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), adoption of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles, and gas conversion for power generation and fertiliser production, among so many other uses of gas. The deployment of the flagship Amal Technology gas leak detection device provides a significant safety tool that will accelerate the adoption of gas as a preferred energy source for homes, transportation, and industry.
“The federal government at COP26 in August 2022 committed to a net-zero target by 2060, and Nigeria has chosen natural gas as its transition fuel. To support this initiative, projects are underway to establish fuel-to-gas conversion centres and CNG refuel stations nationally.
The federal government expects that deploying the Amal technology safety device will also complement our efforts to accelerate the net-zero pathway”, he said.
On his part, the executive secretary of the NCDMB, Felix Omatsola Ogbe, said the technology will end the menace of recurring gas explosions across the country and create massive jobs in the sector.
“The recurring menace of gas leaks and explosions leading to heavy losses in human lives, property damage, and pollution of the environment is the problem statement that the device seeks to address”, he stated.
“We may recall that in 2020, a gas explosion in Lagos took over 20 lives including students, injuring over 200, and displaced over 500 Nigerians. 2021 also saw record six deadly gas explosions claiming scores of human lives and more recently in 2022 and 2023 preventable gas explosions in Kano, and various parts of Lagos claimed many lives and property”, he said.
In his remarks, the brain behind the Amal Areio device, CEO/founder, of Amal Technologies Limited Shehu Tijjani Abdullahi said with an estimated four million cylinders and counting in homes across the country, the discovery of Amal Areio through extensive research and development initiative as a unique solution to prevent gas explosions, is a joyous thing to behold.
“For those deeply concerned about the safety of using cooking gas, Amal Aerio, whose development received extensive support from the NCDMB, provides hope of putting these unfortunate, tragic incidents behind”.
According to him, The smart gas leak and smoke detection alarm gives an early signal of gas leak or smoke and helps to identify the source of the leak, thereby giving people the opportunity to address it and protect one’s family and property.
The Gas Leak Detection Device known as Amal Aerio, a homegrown innovation was initiated by Amal Technologies Limited and supported by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) under its Research & Development innovation intervention.
Amal Aerio is a gas and smoke detection device and it adopted the Internet of Things (IOT) to introduce into the market a device that prevents fire disasters by alerting homeowners and other users through phone calls and text messages in the event of a gas leak. The facility also has the capability for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing.
With NCDMB’s support to Amal Technologies Limited, the company’s products are guaranteed to be made available to Nigerians and exported. In this regard, NCDMB is deepening in-country capacity for research and development, leveraging Nigeria’s oil and gas resources to catalyse its industrialisation.
The innovation complements the federal government’s decade of gas policy and in particular, the drive to deepen the utilisation of cooking gas in homes across the country.
