The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, has given two weeks ultimatum to owners of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, storage tanks nationwide to certify their facilities or have them shut down.
A statement from the office of the Director General, SON, Osita Aboloma, which was posted on the agency’s website, disclosed that SON had observed a sharp rise in the installation of LPG storage tanks in petrol filling stations across the country.
The agency, however, said that many of the filling stations have been unable to provide evidence of SON certification of the vessels.
The SON chief then directed all SON state offices to intensify the surveillance of all installed LPG storage tanks in their areas of coverage to ascertain those that have undergone SON certification before installation as required by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, regulation.
Mr. Aboloma disclosed that all imported and locally fabricated LPG storage tanks are required to undergo SON certification to assure conformity to the requirements of Nigeria Industrial Standard, NIS.
These, according to him, include safety and performance requirements.
He said locally manufactured vessels are also required to undergo certification under the SON Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme, while imported vessels are required to undergo the off-shore Conformity Assessment Programme certification.
The SON Director General, therefore, appealed to the public to be vigilant.
Mr. Aboloma also urged Nigerians to report any installation of LPG storage tanks in their vicinity to the nearest SON office for verification of compliance to standards requirement, in the interest of public safety.