The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has said it would clamp down on illicit retailers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) popularly known as cooking gas in Rivers State.
DPR’s Port Harcourt Zone Operations’ Controller, Mr Bassey Nkanga, hinted of a planned clampdown on the sideline of LPG stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
He said it was now illegal for retailers to transfer cooking gas from one cylinder bottle to another for sale to customers, an act commonly done by roadside LPG retailers. “Plans are ongoing to clamp down on any LPG retailer involved in decanting of cooking gas in shops and at homes.
“We have set up a monitoring unit to arrest defaulters; seize their equipment and sanction them,” he said. Nkanga said that the DPR was also engaging owners of filling stations and other stakeholders to stop the sale of LPG in cylinders to customers.
He said that the Federal Government was planning to end the unwholesome practice in year 2020 due to attendant risks it posed to lives, property and the environment.
“We are telling the filling stations that it is risky for people to carry cylinders to buy LPG from their facilities. So, government is planning to phase it out in year 2020.
“We want filling stations to also have auto-gas add-on plant inside their facility, so that those whose vehicles use gas as fuel can drive in and buy rather than in cylinders,” he said. Nkanga explained that auto-gas filling stations are filling stations that do not sell petrol, kerosene and diesel – but only sell gas to vehicles. He said the Federal Government was passioante to ensure LPG utilisation as well as make available, quality and standard cylinders to Nigerians at affordable prices.