Felix Ikem, Nsukka
There is unease at the university town of Nsukka following the citing of a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) plant at the city centre by Wilson Nigeria Limited.
Located strategically at the heart of the town and surrounded by mega petroleum filling stations like Total, Oando and Mobil, residents and the public, in general, have raised serious safety concerns over the location of the LPG plant which is still under construction.
A resident who visited the Daily Sun office to lodge his campaign against the company, Mr Chinweike Eze, told our reporter that he was afraid over the citing of the LPG plant.
“I know Wilson is a great employer of labour in Enugu State,” Ezebube said. “I equally know that he does not compromise on quality in anything. You and I know how so many lives are lost and property worth millions of naira were lost each time there is a gas explosion.”
Another resident who gave his name as Chikwado Nweze explained that the plant is like a death trap.
In his words, “if Wilson Nigeria limited is allowed to build this gas plant, then we should be in the know that Nsukka town will be sitting on a keg of gun powder, ready to explode at any moment. Whoever had given this company authority to site LPG at the city centre like Total roundabout did so in an error.”
At the moment, social media is rife with the condemnation of the LPG station. One of such posts by one Chidi Ugwu partly read: “The place is surrounded by banks and petrol stations […] up to the market and down to university gate. It is evil to approve such location for such huge LPG installation.”
When Sunday Sun visited the Nsukka town for comment on the location of the LPG plant, the planning manager, Mr Julian Agbo, said that the site was dully approved by his predecessor.
According to him, when he was posted to Nsukka zone in January 2020, he frowned at the structure but later discovered that the LPG plant was approved by his predecessor.
When our reporter visited Wilson Nigeria limited, owner of the LPG plant, for comment on the situation, the Managing Director, Chief Williams Agbo, assured the public that there is no cause for alarm on the safety of the public over the building of the plant, stressing that the plant was certified by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)
According to him, he has put enough safety measures to avoid any gas explosion or fire outbreak in the plant.
In his words: “I believe those saying anything against the plant are enemies of progress and people who do not like good things probably because it doesn’t belong to them or they think it will reduce people’s sufferings. A standard LPG plant is required to be built in 5 plots of land. This is to ensure adequate spacing from major installations. Our new plant is built in 8 plots of land.
“Other LPG vessels are equipped with one pressure relief valve, but our new plant is equipped with two pressure relief valves. The job of a pressure relief valve is to release excess pressure from the storage tank.
“Our storage tank has the capacity to contain and absorb double the pressure of the set value of the pressure relief valves. Our plant is the only plant in the zone that has a safety boundary fence in addition to fire hydrant lines, industrial safety installations, quick shut off valves which ensure that gas is shut off from the tank in case of any excess liquid flows from the storage tank, and many other safety equipment,” he said.
Explaining further, Chief Agbo stressed that “our plant in Eha Alumona was commissioned in 1995 and up till now has never had any problems because of the level of safety equipment installed in the place. You can imagine how the new one will be with our present level of knowledge of the business and new technology that we have today. We as the owners are going to be there 24 hours a day and I don’t think any amount of money is worth to die for.
“There is no cause for alarm over the building of this LPG plant. We have put enough safety measureS on ground to checkmate any ugly situation. We are known for high-quality products and we are not ready to compromise on this virtue; besides, DPR gave us full approval after visiting the site,” Agbo said.