Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has ordered that some of the buildings affected by recent gas explosion at Ita-Oshin, in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of the state be evacuated, to allow integrity tests on affected buildings.
Prince Abiodun made this known during an on-the-spot assessment of damage done to property and businesses around the area, promising to adequately compensate people whose property were damaged or destroyed, while those who were injured in the incident would also be treated by the state government.
He expressed worry over the safety of articulated vehicles conveying Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) across the country, noting that issues bordering on regulations, road worthiness of the modes of transportation of the products should be addressed.
“As a responsible state government, our emergency management team had taken stock of all those businesses, residences that were affected by this unfortunate incident”, he said.
The Governor promised to ensure legislation to provide the required oversight for the sector, adding that he has directed the Ministries of Environment and Transportation to ensure that the truck heads that are carrying petroleum products into the state are roadworthy.
Governor Abiodun charged the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) to be on top of the fast evolution of the industry, saying that they should as a matter of urgency ensure that the standards of the CNG tanks used by trucks meet the required standards, calling for need to deliberate on policy frameworks and regulatory oversights that would prevent such accidents in the state.
“We must first ensure that the right regulatory framework to ensure that the truck heads that are transporting such inflammable products into the state are road worthy.
“Going forward, we need to now begin to look at what kind of policy framework, what type of regulatory oversight should be provided both at the state and federal levels because we will not allow this unfortunate incident to become a clog in the wheel of the energy transition that is needed in the country”, he said.
