Business

SON Shuts Down Facilities For Suspected Substandard LPG Cylinders

Published

6 years ago

June 29, 2018

In furtherance of its Nationwide mop up of suspected substandard life endangering products, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has shot down some facilities for the fabrication of suspected substandard liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Located on Bida Road in Onitsha, the LPG Cylinder fabrication sites were filled with various sizes of cylinders including 3kg, 5kg, 6 kg, 12.5 kg and 50 kg.

According to a statement from the office of the Director General, Mr. Osita Aboloma, the standards enforcement activity was carried out by the Anambra State office in exercise of the agency’s mandate as prescribed in SON Act No. 14 of 2015.

The SON Anambra State Coordinator, Engr. Nwaoma Olujie, said the fabrication sites were found lacking in basic requisite facilities for the manufacture of LPG Cylinders such as shot blasting, metallizing, heat treatment furnace, tensile testing machine, spectrometer, burst testing machine and x-ray machines among others.

Olujie described the domestic gas cylinders as ‘time bombs’ and added that the fabricators went as far as printing SON quality sign on the finished products, thereby misleading the public.

The coordinator who led the enforcement said no arrests were made as the illegal producers all took to their heels on sighting the SON team.

Three lorry loads of suspected substandard LPG cylinders, welding machines, paint spraying machines, compressors and gauges etc. were evacuated from the 3 locations raided.

According to the statement, large quantities of petrol tanks and air tanks for pneumatic braking systems suspected to be used in the fabrication of the LPG Cylinders were found at the sites, some of which were also evacuated.

Samples of the LPG Cylinders will be sent to the SON Laboratory for tests and analysis to enable further action, the statement said.

It will be recalled that SON Operatives recently mopped up substandard LPG Cylinders in Kano, Kaduna and Katsina States which were all destroyed for recycling after Laboratory tests and analysis confirmed the substandard status.

The SON statement urged Nigerians to pay close attention to LPG Cylinders quality status to forestall avoidable unpleasant consequences.

It also appealed to the general public to continue to provide useful information to regulatory and security agencies on suspected substandard products, with emphasis on those classified as life endangering.

The Statement concluded that the proprietors of the facilities will be made to face the full weight of the law after all investigations are concluded.