Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has said that a policy that would enforce road worthiness of truck heads plying roads in the state would be put in place.
Addressing the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, and his entourage, who paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, after visiting the site of last Saturday’s explosion, Abiodun said attention would also be given to gas cylinders used by the trucks, to ensure quality and standard.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Lekan Adeniran, the governor said the steps became necessary in view of the preponderance of gas utilisation in the state.
He said: “I was very worried when the report of the incident reached me, and the reason for that is that Ogun State is the industrial capital of Nigeria with over 6,000 manufacturing industries and companies. We enjoy gas reticulation more than any other state in Nigeria.
“With the explosion, a lot of questions were asked as to what happened, how it happened, and the lessons learnt. We have received a preliminary report from the Ministry of Environment.
“We have taken some steps to forestall future occurrence. We have shut down the company involved to conduct a safety audit, and investigations are ongoing to determine the immediate cause of the incident and how to ensure that it does not repeat itself.
“We must ensure that truck heads that convey gas are road worthy. We are going to put in place a policy that enforces road worthiness of trucks and looks at issues around standards. These issues will govern quality and assure us of the quality of the gas cylinders”.
Abiodun said he was worried about how the public would perceive the incident, especially with the constitution of the Presidential Task Force on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to deepen the provision, utilization and off take of gas across the country.
While appreciating President Bola Tinubu for commiserating with the government and the people of the state on the incident, Governor Abiodun assured that his administration would collaborate with the federal government to find out the immediate cause and what needed to be done to guide against future occurrence and how to support those affected.
Speaking earlier, Ekpo, said he was in the state in his capacity as the Minister in charge of gas on behalf of the president, to assess the extent of damage done by the explosion and report same for proper and prompt response.
