By ADEOLA YUSUF
Doctors are not known to betray emotions but the Chief Medical Director
of the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, Dr Mustapha Alimi,
was moved to tears penultimate Tuesday. That day, he was saddened by the
increase in burns being recorded in the tertiary institution due to gas
cylinders’ accidents. Like Dr. Alimi, Head of Department, Burns and
Plastic Surgery, Dr Folake Abikoye, declared that management of burns
from gas cylinders is very expensive even for patients who escape being
burnt to death. “They cannot afford the burn management and that is the
reason why the hospital management is considering setting up an
endowment fund to assist the less privileged.”
Harvest of deaths
Three
children of the same mother were, on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, burnt to
death in a domestic gas explosion that rocked their home in Sara
village, Jigawa State. Two others who were also affected sustained
serious burns. A spokesperson for the Jigawa State police, ASP Abdu
Jinjiri, who confirmed the disheartening incident, said that five
siblings were affected by the gas explosion that occurred “in the house
of one Alhaji Wada Sara.’ The following people, Zainab Wada, Abdul Wada,
Aliyu Wada, Fati Wada and Abdulrahman Wada, sustained various degrees
of injuries,” he began to speak in a voice laden with emotion. “They
were rushed to the Federal Medical Centre Birninkudu in Birninkudu LGA
for medical attention.
The incident was as a result of explosion
from a cooking gas cylinder. The victims Zainab, Fati and Abdulrahman
died at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. They were of ages 3, 2 and 4,”
he broke the sad news to newsmen. In Delta, a woman and her four
underage children were burnt to death. The distance is, though, about a
thousand kilometers from the Jigawa incident, the cause of the
destruction was the same; a cooking gas cylinder!
The gas
explosion, which rocked the Okwe Market, in Asaba, Delta State also left
scores of persons with various degrees of burns. Earlier in August
2015, the Obidigwe family of Azia in Ihiala Local Council of Anambra
State, took delivery of the bodies of nine of their children, who were
roasted to death in their Lagos abode.
Fifty-one-year-old Charles
Obidigwe, a patent medicine dealer and head of the family died
instantly, after an unsuccessful attempt to put out a fire, which
engulfed his three-bedroom apartment. While Charles, the head of the
family died instantly, the other eight members of his family, including
his sisterin- law and her son, who were staying with them, died later in
a Lagos hospital. The fire was ignited when a gas cylinder exploded and
caught fire that engulfed the entire flat when Mrs. Obidigwe was
preparing lunch for the family. By the time the incident took place, no
single neighbour of the Obidigwes had a fire extinguisher.
So, by
the time men of the Lagos State Fire Service arrived, the harm had been
done.On Sunday, July 16, 2017, the National Vice President of the
Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), South- South Zone, Eddie
Bekom, died as a result of injuries he sustained from a gas explosion.
The fire, which killed Bekom, a staff of the Cross River Broadcasting
Service (CRBS) in Ikom, also claimed his wife and one of his sons, while
three other children sustained injuries.
Up North, a gas
explosion on August 28, 2017, reportedly wrecked the female hostel in
the Jos campus of the Plateau State Polytechnic. The fire, which started
around 8.30 a.m., raged on till 11.44a.m., causing confusion among
students and staff. Though no life was lost, the fire, which was as a
result of gas explosion, the school’s rector, Dauda Gyemang, said, burnt
school property and personal effects of students, who were all away to
attend lectures.
The use of gas in the hostel is prohibited.
Until Uche Okonkwo got married to Ifeoma, the latter never lit a gas
cooker all her life. Her arrival in her husband’s modest apartment was,
to say the least, a lifechanging moment for her. Since they observed
their low-keyed honeymoon at home, Okonkwo was still in bed when he
heard a loud bang in the kitchen. Pronto he sprang and ran towards that
direction only to meet his wife on the floor of the burning kitchen.
With
one hand he flung her through the door and proceeded knock off supply
from the giant gas cylinder stationed outside beside the kitchen window.
Once out of shock, Ifeoma explained that the first match she struck
failed to light the cooker hence she went in search of another matchbox,
as the failed stick was the last in the pack. By the time she could
grab another match pack from the kitchen cabinet, the entire place had
been filled with gas, and without any suspicion, she proceeded to light
the cooker.
Cause of destruction
The Nigerian
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (LPGA), it was, who first hit the
nail on the head about sub-standard gas cylinders in Nigeria. The
multi-million dollars local gas cylinder manufacturing sub-sector in
Nigeria is facing the rock, President of the highest body of
stakeholders in the cooking gas sub-sector, Nuhu Yakubu, declared in a
chat with Sunday Telegraph. This, he said with passion, is not only a
big treat to the geometric growth recorded in the Liquefied Petroleum
Gas (LPG) also known as cooking gas sector in the past 10 years, it had
also fuelled the availability of sub-standard cylinders in circulation
across the country along with gas that no longer smells to warn of
leakages.
Grounds for crisis
The difficulty buoyed by
Federal Government’s inaction to end over N1 trillion average annual
investments on fuel subsidy has, the Yakubu’s NLPGA, created a shortfall
of 49 million cylinders in the system. And confirming the “dangerous
trend” to Sunday Telegraph on the sideline of a press conference, he
registered the displeasure of stakeholders in cooking gas sector with
fuel subsidy.
“Many local cylinder manufacturers have closed
shops regrettably due to the way government is handling the energy mix.
The inability of the government to deregulate the Premium Motor Spirit
(PMS) also known as petrol has made it to keep wasting scarce resources
on fuel subsidy while it keeps expending scarce resources yearly to
import LPG cylinders from Turkey, China, India and other Asian
countries,” he said at the press conference to herald the group’s 8th
annual conference themed;“LPG diversification: Expanding the LPG
frontiers in Africa.” “The last time we heard that over N1 trillion was
expended to subsidise fuel. Subsidy is a killer of economy, we – as a
nation – are just technically subsidising petrol for the consumption of
millions in West Africa.
“We need to end fuel subsidy by
deregulating petrol. Let the growth being experience the LPG market be
felt elsewhere,” he said, adding that the “Nigeria’s LPG sector is
fastest growing in the World. It grew between 2007 and 2017 by over a
1000th per cent growth.” “What is spectacular is the fact that it has
been private sector driven. It is a testimonial that with just the
creation of enabling environment with deregulation. If the LPG sector is
able to grow with deregulation just imagine the level of growth if this
is extended to petrol and others.”
Many steps backward
Stating
that this growth rate could have been higher, the NLPGA’s boss said:
“The reason LPG has not grown at the expected pace is that the sector is
being pulled down by market forces from other fuels that are yet to be
deregulated.” Another reason, according to him, is that the LPG we need
is being flared, it is being set on fire somewhere in Nigeria and the
country is not doing enough to tame this tides. “We are a net exporter
of LPG meanwhile we still have a lot of LPG that is being flared. Just
imagine the level of health hazards being faced by our women who still
use firewood. “We don’t need subsidy in our sector. Subsidy is a killer
of our economy. Even the petrol we subsidise benefits the rich and the
middle class. Their number is even so small,” Yakubu said.
Going into extinction
Declaring
that local “LPG cylinder manufacucturers are going into extinction,”
the NLPGA boss noted that for this to be addressed, the government needs
to incentivize the sector. This, First Vice President of NLPGA,
Engineer Baylon Duru said, could be done through port duty reductions;
tax holiday and tax reduction for local cylinder manufacturers;
incentivise cylinders distribution in Nigeria; incentivise conversion of
vehicles from petrol to gas and to Incentivise the cost of entry for
millions of Nigeria who still face the health hazards of using the dirty
fuel.”
What the Government has to say
Meanwhile, the
Senior Adviser, Downstream and Infrastructure to the Minister of State
for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Brenda Ataga, was quoted as saying the
government was working out a package of incentives to encourage
investors in the cooking gas subsector. She said the ministry would set
up a unit to liaise with the Federal Ministry of Finance to package
tariff incentives for credible investors in the industry. Ataga, who
during a tour of Tech-no Oil for building the gas cylinder plant, said
the petroleum resources ministry was doing everything possible to
encourage Nigerians to embrace LPG, also known as cooking gas. She said
government was keen on ensuring that every Nigerian household embraced
cooking gas rather than using firewood and other harmful energy sources.
Also speaking, the Head, Gas Monitoring and Regulatory Division in the
Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr Sanya Bajomo, said he was
impressed with what he saw at the plant. “It is a thing of joy that we
can now manufacture LPG cylinders in Nigeria, instead of importing. We
give kudos to Techno Oil for preparing the ground for every household to
adopt cooking gas,” he added.
Cooking gas
Cooking gas
cylinders are a great relief from kerosene stoves and electric cookers
in environments with limited or unpredictable power supply. Some say you
haven’t lived if you haven’t blown into the dark rings of a smoking
kerosene stove. These cylinders are one of the most common alternative
fuel sources in the world, with millions of Nigerian households relying
on this cooking appliance, according to recent study by NLPGA. In modern
town planning, the use of these gas cylinders is only replaced by the
expansion of town gas into buildings, as seen in Hong Kong and Brazil.
When handled correctly, gas cylinders are portable, in abundant supply,
convenient and affordable. When not handled correctly, they can cost
your life. But the sub-standard cylinders are greater threats because
whether they are handled correctly or not, they are susceptible to leaks
and explosion.
Surge in cylinder’s havoc
Dr. Alimi
raised the alarm over increasing cases of burns in the hospital, blaming
them on what he described as ‘nonchalant attitude’ of Nigerians in the
use of cooking gas. Alimi who spoke during the Hospital’s Burns
Awareness Walk further maintained that the increase in burns being
recorded in the tertiary institution was due to poor handling of cooking
gas or kerosene, generator and the use of phone touch lights while
fueling generators. He warned Nigerians against keeping their gas
cylinder inside their kitchen as many may not be lucky with such act.
“If you are using cooking gas or kerosene, keep it outside. Your kitchen
must have a window. If kerosene finished inside the stove while you are
cooking, suspend the cooking till the stove is cool before you refuel.
“Don’t keep petrol inside the house, do not refill hot or working
generator.
If you are living your house, switch off all
appliances, if you are going to bed, switch off appliances you are not
using. If you want to do electric wiring in your house get a proper
electrician and make sure cable is connected properly, don’t leave cable
where they can spark and kindle fire “You may get away with it today
and not be lucky tomorrow, so the best option is not to try it at all.
Most of the phones have a little spark when they ring, and that spark is
enough to spark up a fire,” he disclosed. Corroborating his views, Head
of Department, Burns and Plastic Surgery, Dr. Folake Abikoye, regretted
that many Nigerians still apply things like egg, engine oil, pap among
other things on burns injury which can contaminate the wound. “The best
thing is to put the injury spot under a running tap to cool the
temperature of the affected area and prevent the heat of initial burn
injuries to continue to cause more tissue destruction. She urged people
to embrace safety precaution help to save lives and prevent loss of
property, “burn management is very expensive, some patient cannot afford
it that is the reason why the hospital management is considering
setting up an endowment fund to assist less privileged.
Last line
The
Federal Government must up the monitoring of standard of imported
canisters for cooking gas. All Nigerians, including stakeholders should
support the efforts at mitigating the risk posed by these sub-standard
cylinders already in circulation.
Source:- Newtelegraphng
Share your thoughts