SON destroys 2,000 substandard cooking gas cylinders

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) destroyed more than 2,000 substandard cooking gas cylinders fabricated in Onitsha and its environs on Tuesday.

Supervising the destruction in Enugu, Mr Obinna Manafa, the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate of SON, said that the agency seized the substandard cooking gas cylinders in 2018.

Manafa said the unsafe cylinders were fabricated by roadside welders.

“These roadside welders do not have the capacity and capability to produce standard gas cylinders and they do not even know what standard cylinders production is all about.

“If you look at these fake cylinders, you would observe that they were just cutting metals, joining and welding them together.

“So, these are potential bombs.

“When we got information about them through our intelligence unit, we went to the locations and confiscated everything,’’ he said.

The director said SON would never allow substandard cylinders to get into homes since they had the capacity to destroy houses and lives.

“Explosion of a cylinder can pull down a building and cause unimaginable havoc. It is very dangerous,’’ he said.

Manafa added that he could not quantify the amount involved in the fabrication of the cylinders.

“It is all cut and join work, which monetary value cannot be easily ascertained,’’ he said.

The director urged cylinders manufacturers to manufacture cylinders that comply with NIS 69 standard. NIS 69 is the globally accepted standard for cylinders.

“Whenever anybody wants to import cylinders, they should come to SON. SON will give the importer proper guidance.

“For end users, when you want to buy made-in-Nigeria gas cylinders ensure a MAN-CAP logo is on the product.

“If you want to buy imported cylinder, look out for the SON product registration number on the cylinder,’’ Manafa stressed.