*Urges increased use of LPG for cooking
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
27 September 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA – In a bid to reduce the incidence of petroleum tanker accidents on Nigerian roads and promote health safety environments in its retail outlets, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has implored all its retail outlets and owners of affiliate stations to maintain a high safety culture in line with international best practices.
The Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Andrew Yakubu, who stated this during a Health, Safety and Environment workshop for its retail operators at the NNPC towers in Abuja, also stressed that the Corporation was ready to imbibe global safety practices in the distribution of petroleum products to minimise accidents.
“We have a firm interest to ensure that our operation does not harm anybody.
We are committed to doing all within our powers to make sure that our health, safety and environment is up to speed and in conformity with international best practices,” the GMD noted.
The NNPC has sought to use its over four hundred and fifty mega and affiliate stations across the county to boost supplies of products as well as bolster safe environment and health practices among operators.
According to Yakubu, the retail outlet owners should encourage their tanker drivers to imbibe healthy life styles and keep to road safety regulations while transporting petroleum products across the length and breadth of the country in order to eliminate avoidable accidents.
Represented by the Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Dr. Peter Madu, the GMD affirmed that the NNPC was committed to ensuring that its operations impacted positively on the lives and property of Nigerians.
The NNPC helmsman maintained that the workshop was aimed at sensitising the owners of the outlets on the need to uphold best safety culture, stressing that the NNPC brand represents high quality and high standards in terms of health, safety and environment practices.
He further called on Nigerians to key into the use of liquefied petroleum gas as domestic fuel for cooking, adding that LPG is a safer and cleaner fuel for cooking that could mitigate the depletion of forests in the country.
The NNPC helmsman disclosed the introduction of the GMD award on HSE among the retail outlets as part of measures to encourage safety standards in all its retail stations.
In his remarks, the Group Executive Director of Engineering and Technology, represented by Engr. Ishiaka Olawole, said the essence of the workshop was to create awareness and reduce accidents in work places, adding that the NNPC maintains zero tolerance to accidents.
Speaking in similar vein, the Managing Director of NNPC Retail Alhaji Umar Farouk Bello informed that NNPC Retail was primarily established to ensure availability of unadulterated petroleum products and implored the retail filling stations owners to ensure the safety of staff, customers and the general public in all their operations.
In his contribution, the General Manager HSE of the Corporation, Rabiu Suleiman noted that the workshop would help to shore up the safety standards of the NNPC Retail stations across the country.
