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The Federal Government has revealed it would stop granting licences to gas companies with no capacity to build pipelines for gas distribution, following the aftermath of the gas explosion which claimed a life in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, last Saturday.
Naija News reports that the latest development was communicated by the Minister of State For Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo, during a visit to Abeokuta for an on-the-spot assessment of Saturday’s CNG explosion at Ita Oshin.
According to him, the development became imperative to discourage the transportation of compressed natural gas through the roads, prevent road explosions, and save lives and property.
Ekpo, who was received into the state by Governor Dapo Abiodun and his deputy, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, stated that President Bola Tinubu sent him to see to the root cause of the incident and sympathise with the people of Ogun State.
While saying the country must transit from fossil fuel to CNG, Ekpo revealed that he had directed the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, not to issue licenses to anyone who could not pipe CNG to the end users.
The gas minister emphasised the need to stop virtual gas transportation, saying the Federal Government was putting efforts in top gear to build pipelines for seamless transmission of CNG.
He said, “As the Federal Government, we are trying all that we can to ensure we reduce virtual transportation of gas because of the volatility of it, especially with the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano pipeline.
“I have directed the authority chief executive that for any further issuance of licence, the company should be competent enough to pipe it to their end users so that we are not exposed to this kind of danger any longer.
“As a ministry, we are looking at how we can reduce a lot of virtual conveyance of gas. That is why we are putting much in developing the gas pipeline infrastructure so that the transportation would not be virtual, but rather through the pipelines. This will reduce this kind of incident and take off the pressure on our roads.”
Ekpo stressed that despite the incident, CNG remains a better alternative to petrol, urging Nigerians not to be discouraged.
He also emphasized the importance of companies using only quality cylinders for gas distribution to avoid incidents.
He added, “This is better than even fuel if you look at what happened in Port Harcourt where lives were lost and so many vehicles burnt. It is better we go this route.”
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