Yahaya flays indiscriminate building of LGP depots in Gombe

Gov. Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has decried the indiscriminate building of Liqufied Gas Plant (LGP) depots and filling stations without recourse to laid down rules and safety in the state.

Yahaya said this in Gombe on Tuesday when he received members of House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Relocation of Tank Farms in residential areas.

The governor, who said gas outlets and depots were set up without any consideration, raised alarm that indiscriminate location of the gas outlets was posing a threat to peoples’ safety.

He said that the greatest challenge lied more in lack of proper development, planning and development control.

He noted that the LGP depots that sprang up between houses and business outlets in state were not properly located in spite of the town planning.

“People abandoned responsibility and allowed lack of planning take upper hand in locating their business in spite of the risk within the neighborhood,” he said.

Yahaya therefore called on those concerned to address the problem once and for all, stressing “unless and until we do the correct thing, naturally the correct thing would never bring itself to us”.

He said the state was host to NNPC depot for some time, yet there was no effort or attempt by group or individuals to destroy the pipelines and siphon products.

Rep. Ibrahim Aliyu, the Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, said they were in Gombe to see the compliance level to Department for Petroleum Resources (DPR) guide and NNPC right of way.

He said they had gone round for a physical assessment of NNPC facilities in the state and other states across the country.

According to him, encroachment in those areas was causing great havoc, which seemed like sitting on a time bomb waiting to explode at any time.

Aliyu commended the governor for the developmental projects executed in the state within two years of his administration.