In line with its mandate to ensure the safety of lives and properties across Nigeria, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) says it has opened collaborative talks with filling plants owners and other relevant stakeholders in order to commence the re-qualification gas cylinders in use.
However, the agency stated that the exercise would appear daunting in view of individual ownership of liquefied petroleum gas cylinder in the country.
In a related development, more than 5,000 substandard gas cylinders worth N51.3 million have been publicly destroyed by the SON.
According to the standards body, the cylinders destroyed were imported into the country without the SON’s Conformity Assessment Programme certification and did not comply with specifications inline the Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) 69.
Obiora Manafa, director, Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, SON, at the destruction exercise at one of its warehouses in Lagos, recently said the importer brought in 12.5kg cylinders not meant for camping gas, pointing out that the maximum capacity of cylinders required for camping gas was 3.5kg, 5kg and 6.25kg.
In his words,” Those are the sizes of cylinders allowed for camping. Using 12.5kg you have to mouth the burner for camping the gas and when you are cooking, you are exposing a large number of gas to direct heat which is not allowed. It is a threat to safety.
“We did not give any importer approval to bring in 12.5kg for camping, but approvals for 3kg, 5kg and 6.25kg for camping. In this case, the importer brought in cylinders of 12.5kg as camping and that is why we have seized it for destruction because we cannot allow it into the market.”
Meanwhile, Manafa stated that plans were underway to work with stakeholders in the industry to begin a requalification scheme which would put every used cylinder through a requalification exercise to ensure that a cylinder is not used beyond its expiration date.
Identifying some of the challenges to be faced by the programme, such as replacing the cylinders after withdrawal, he stated that in a country where gas cylinders are owned by individuals, it would be difficult to carry out the scheme as in other countries where cylinders are owned by marketers.
“In Nigeria, cylinders are owned by individuals but owned by marketers in other climes and once the cylinders are due for recertification, it is easy for withdrawal, but difficult to get these cylinders from individuals to do requalification,” he said.
“The only way it can work is if any consumer takes a cylinder to a filling plant to refill and the plant owner checks the cylinder and it is due for requalification, the plant owners should be given powers to seize the cylinder. These are some of the things we are working with other stakeholders in the industry to address,” he said
He said, “The life span of a cylinder is 15 years and when using a brand new cylinder, you have to calculate another 15 years for the usage, but unscrupulous importers go outside the country to bring in these cylinders that have been discarded and have been used for over 30 years. These cylinders are not allowed in the Nigerian market because they are dead on arrival and they are not safe for anybody to use, they are expired and weak.”
He advised importers and consumers to always seek advice from SON before purchasing these cylinders while recommending the usage of brand new cylinders certified by SON.
He warned that people using the cylinders are on a time bomb in their houses, while also encouraging consumers to purchase quality goods rather than cheap products with no economic value.
He said the substandard cylinders were intercepted with the help of its intelligence report, stressing that with the SON Act 2015, the agency would stop at nothing to bring down the level of substandard goods to the barest minimum.
He advised importers to stick to the specification of the standards, warning that going out of the standards would only see their products seized and destroyed.
Mary Amos, an importer, said SON had been embarking on enforcement exercises to rid the country of sub-standard goods.
She noted that many stakeholders in different sectors of the economy including Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had called on the present administration to empower more than ever before, the regulatory agency to bite even harder by assisting it improved funds, recruit more personnel so as to increase its efficiencies across the six geo-political zones while also giving the directive to return SON back to the nation’s seaports to stop these sub-standard goods at the point of entry.
Nwaoma Oluji, group head, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, SON, urged the consumers to look out for markings such as date of manufacturing, country of origin and manufacturer’s name for traceability, adding all these are embossed on the cylinder.
She also urged Nigerians to buy only cylinders with SON registration marks in order to safeguard their homes from fire incidents caused by substandard cylinders.
