Authorities of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have warned that they would soon clamp down on illegal dealers and re-fillers of the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, in Bayelsa state.
The Operation Controllers, Yenagoa field office, Mrs. Ejiro Ufondu, stated that the gas re-fillers, who sell gas indiscriminately at the state capital, do not consider the health hazards and the effects on residents, adding that her office will do everything to stop the act which she described as constituting nuisance.
She said, “We are specifically going to address the issue, for the gas re-filling; it is part of our policy that if you want to fill your bottles, you take it to a gas depot and if you must give it to a gas re-filler then what to do collect another filled bottle and not wait for them to refill.”
Ufondu spoke in Yenagoa while speaking briefly with newsmen during the 2019 DPR/Petroleum products marketers annual general meeting with the theme: “Together we deliver safe operations in Bayelsa state”.
She disclosed that Bayelsa state has not recorded issues of accident for about a year now unlike some states which have recorded so many casualties of workers, noting that safety operations are been upheld by workers in the state.
“We’ve not recorded issues of severe accidents or death for some months in the state, safety operations is really upheld here, we will continue to lead the way in safety together in the state. There’s a lot to be done regarding safety and we must keep at it, we mustn’t feel because we’ve not had accident cases we should relax, we must put in more efforts to ensure everyone remains safe.”
On the issues of supply of petroleum products in the state, she noted that despite the facts that the state does not have its own depot and products are brought in from neighbouring states of Delta and Rivers state, the state still has sufficient products, adding that there’s no case of hoarding and price hike at the moment.
