The Senate has ordered an investigation into the remote and immediate causes of the gas explosion at Ladipo Spare Parts Market area of Mushin, Lagos that led to the death of at least five persons including a 10-year-old boy.

This followed the passage of a motion of urgent public importance moved by Solomon Adeola (APC, Lagos West) calling the attention of the Senate to the explosion. 

The senator noted that there has been a recurrence of similar explosions in recent times in the same area in his senatorial district as happened in 2016, 2018 (Abule-Egba), 2019 (Abule – Egba) 2020 (Ijegun), and 2020 (Ile-Epo, Oke-Odo), 2020(Abule Ado) stressing that Nigerians resident in all the densely populated area where these explosions occurred now live in fear of not only losing properties and investment but their lives or those of love ones from these frequent explosive fire disasters.

The Senate observed a minute silence in honour of the innocent Nigerians that lost their lives in the inferno and directed NEMA, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to immediately send relief materials to affected victims and offset medical bills of those hospitalized. 

However, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR), branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has said explosion was caused by acetylene gas.

Its National Secretary, Mr. Olukayode Solomon, made the clarification in a statement while commiserating with the families of the victims of the explosion.

He noted that the incident was not in anyway related to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is popularly called cooking Gas.

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“It is important to state clearly that the outlet in which the explosion occurred was specifically an acetylene gas outlet. Acetylene gas is an industrial gas used for welding, cutting and other related industrial activities. Acetylene gas is often sold alongside oxygen gas which is equally an industrial gas. The explosions of these industrial gasses often cause wide scale destruction similar to military bombs unlike LPG explosion which often causes inferno.”

He said damage arising from LPG explosion usually comes as a result of spread of its inferno based on the level of gas leakage and spread.

“On the contrary, industrial gasses such as acetylene and oxygen usually pull down structures around the scene of the explosion because of the high pressure of the industrial gasses as well as the very heavy weight of the industrial gas cylinders.

“Also, acetylene and oxygen gasses do not use the same cylinders used for LPG as exemplified by the type of cylinders that littered around the scene of the explosion yesterday.

“It is equally important to note that acetylene and oxygen gasses are not derived from the same sources as LPG,” Solomon said.

He further explained that they were also are not regulated by the same agency that regulates LPG.

Solomon noted that LPG was derived from petroleum and natural gas and regulated by the former Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now replaced with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.