The Department of Petroleum Resources will collaborate with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to tackle the activities of illegal retail gas operators in Kaduna State.
This is as Governor Nasir El-Rufai has ordered the closure of all gas retail stations within residential areas across the state.
The DPR, while on a visit to the scene of the gas explosion at the Sabon Tasha area in the Chikun Local Government Area of the state, had said it would clamp down on illegal gas retail operators across the state.
In a bid to achieve this, the DPR North-West Operational Controller, Alhaji Isa Tafida, while on a courtesy visit to the state Commandant of the NCDC, Babangida Dutsinma, sealed a deal with the outfit to tackle the menace in the state.
The state Public Relations Officer of Civil Defence Corps, Orndiir Terzungwe, made this known on Thursday shortly after Tafida’s courtesy visit the DPR boss to the State commandant.
The DPR boss was quoted to have remarked that the activities of illegal gas retailers had assumed a worrisome dimension and the agency needed a closer tie with the security outfit to avert any disaster in the future.
“The current situation requires a closer working relationship between the DPR and NSCDC to contain the excesses of unlicensed operators,” Tafida said.
Meanwhile, the Zonal Controller said the office had licensed only 38 gas plants in Kaduna and he frowned on the activities of illegal gas refilling outlets in the state.
According to Tafida, the DPR is embarking on a sensitisation campaign to enlighten the public on how to use gas and where to get it, in support of the present administration’s policy to encourage its usage as a source of energy for cooking.
He noted that the Federal Government encouraged the utilisation of cooking gas as an alternative to reduce over-dependence on firewood, considering the devastating effects of desertification.
Tafida said since Nigeria is a major producer of gas in Africa and 4th producer and exporter globally, Nigerians should rely on it for energy.
Responding, the commandant commended the DPR for its efforts to protect the nation’s economy.
Dutsinma pledged the agency’s support towards the sensitisation programme by providing “security during enforcement, surveillance and inspection exercises, which will be taken to all local government areas.”
