DPR, NEMSA Move to Avert Fire Disaster in Hazardous Areas
Following a recent huge fire that burnt through a gas station in Ghana’s capital city of Accra, leaving scores of people dead, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and newly constituted Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority (NEMSA) may have agreed to commence periodic standard checks on electrical installations at petrol service stations in Nigeria.
Some 150 people had died in a recent fire accident at a petrol station in Accra. Although the cause of the inferno had not been officially disclosed but witnesses stated that the fire started in the night as people in the city were trying to cope with two days of heavy rain, which has left many homeless and without power.
Some had also linked the accident which occurred on June 5 to possible electrical faults installations, however, NEMSA which is legally mandated by a recent Act of parliament to ensure safety in the use of electricity in Nigeria said that it is not taking chances in this regard, hence it renewed partnership with DPR and Nigeria Fire Services.
The Managing Director of NEMSA, Peter Ewesor, told reporters in Abuja that following its mandate to test and certify electrical installations in hazardous locations such as filling stations, offshore and onshore oil flow stations as well as Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platforms, the agency will be going ahead to review the status of electrical installations of filing stations in the country.
Ewesor disclosed that before now, prospective promoters of petrol service stations were mandated by law to seek and obtain clearance for electrical installations from the electrical inspectorate department of the ministry of power alongside their licensing from the DPR.
He however noted that the practice may have gone into extinct but that NEMSA will revive it to checkmate possible fire accidents in petrol stations in Nigeria just like the recent one in Ghana.
“We had that collaboration with DPR and fire service in the past in areas of hazardous services.
In the past, you cannot issue a license to a petrol service station without certification from the DPR, fire service and electrical inspectorates of the ministry of power but suddenly, this fizzled out and I know where to go,” Ewesor said.
He further explained: “We have met with DPR and have had meetings with them, our men have started checking electrical installations at filing stations because if you see what happened in Ghana recently, you can then appreciate what we are trying to say because a filing station going into flames is unimaginable.
We know the people we need to collaborate with to impact the system the way we are supposed to for people to see the benefits of our setting up.”
Ewesor also noted that the agency will go on to process and issue competency certificates to qualified electrical personnel that will work in the country’s electricity sector, to avoid instances of electrical accidents at homes and industrial complexes.