By Bennett Oghifo
Alaro City has become a choice environment for the establishment of high-profile industries that are expected to provide and sustain global standards in their products.
The latest facility in the growing city is a company that manufactures gas cylinders for homes to prevent the use of substandard cylinders, which are increasingly causing domestic accidents, some fatal, through explosions.
There is growing statistics of victims of domestic gas incidents in the country. Most of these accidents result in multiple casualties. As Nigeria races to increase penetration of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the country, a combination of ignorance and substandard gas cylinders have contributed to an increasing number of domestic gas-related accidents with majority recording fatalities. In 2020 alone, media reports put the number of domestic gas explosions at over 200 nationwide.
“The statistics are even grimmer when you consider the fact that not all domestic gas incidents are reported or, in some bizarre cases, even acknowledged for what they are,” said Anthony Chika, a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) professional in the oil and gas industry. “We have been, in our own little way, as stakeholders in the industry, engaging with regulators like the DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources) and SON (Standards Organisation of Nigeria) to improve public enlightenment on proper usage of gas cylinders in homes and what cylinders are considered safe. Too many people still do not know how to properly handle and store cylinders, not to talk of how to identify substandard cylinders or expired cylinders.
“For instance, I constantly educate people on almost a weekly basis on basic cylinder safety approach. Last Sunday, I had to stop and cross over the road to admonish a young couple who were putting two cylinders into their car boot after refilling them at a gas plant. Cylinders must be stored upright; two cylinders cannot be put in the same confined space; expired cylinders must be discarded even if their outward appearance looks okay; and so much more. But the education must come with the availability of safe and affordable cylinders that conform with new safety standards.”
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has routinely identified and destroyed substandard cylinders in markets, both crude locally fabricated ones and imported defective cylinders. In 2019, the agency destroyed 5,000 substandard cylinders in Lagos alone. “Safety is important to SON and the agency is working towards ensuring that any cylinder in circulation meets the required standards,” said Nwaoma Olujie, SON’s Group Head of LPG at the time. “Nigerians also need to know that the average lifespan of a cylinder is 15 years with requalification every five years.”
Critics, however, say these enlightenment and standards enforcement initiatives, while laudable, are insufficient in addressing the problem. Blessed Okonkwo, an investment banker, believes that the combination of poverty and lack of sufficient modern cylinders are bigger impediments to the improvement of safety in domestic gas usage in the country. “I have seen where a container of imported used cylinders was offloaded before and all I can say is that from the way they were handled, most of them would be dented before going down the chain to end users; and that alone is a problem,” he said. “However, because there are not many options in terms of affordable new modern cylinders and with the inflation rate and its attendant effects, people will be left with no choice than to make do with that is available and affordable.”
Enter Rungas and the NCDMB
Recently, Rungas, a Nigerian gas infrastructure company pioneering the deeper penetration of LPG across Africa, broke ground on a new facility in Alaro City, Lagos, where it will produce Type-3 LPG composite cylinders. The new manufacturing facility, one of three nationwide being executed by Rungas in partnership with the Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (NCDMB), will raise local manufacturing of LPG cylinders to significant levels and position Nigeria as a continental hub for the supply of composite cylinders.
Lanre Runsewe, the Chief Executive Officer of Rungas, has always been an advocate for cleaner energy and deeper LPG penetration in the country and in Africa. He, however, acknowledges that safety concerns have been a major obstacle. “This is why we have worked at ensuring that safe and compliant cylinders that are being produced in Nigeria and for Nigerians meet all safety standards and are accessible and available to all. Our cylinders are unique: they do not explode in fire; they have a shelf life of 30 years, they are 40% lighter than conventional steel cylinders and also have a gauge that enables users know how much gas is left in the cylinder. We are pleased with the partnership with NCDMB which shows government’s commitment to this; as well as that with Alaro City, the new city that hosts our facility in Lagos, which not only is located in the Lekki Free Zone and offers business-friendly policies but has a unique masterplan and is rolling out infrastructure fast.”
Launched in 2019, Alaro City is planned as a 2,000-hectare mixed-income, city-scale development with industrial and logistics locations, complemented by offices, homes, schools, healthcare facilities, hotels, entertainment and 150 hectares of parks and open spaces. Alaro City is a partnership between Rendeavour, Africa’s largest new city builder and Lagos State, the economic and financial nerve centre of Nigeria. In the two years since launch and the commencement of infrastructural rollout in the city, recognition of it’s uniqueness has come from several quarters: from its masterplan winning the international 2019 Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award, besting those of the Amazon HQ2 supersite in Dallas and the 5M project in San Francisco; to it being awarded ‘Highly Commended in Africa’, in the SME Winners Category and ‘One to Watch’ among free zones globally in the fDi Global Free Zones of the Year Awards 2020.
City of Standards
The standards that the city has set are having a multiplier effect as not only has it attracted Nigerian and multinational businesses at a fast rate – over 35 of them are currently operational, designing or building their facilities – but has witnessed a growing trend of manufacturers like Rungas who are heavily invested in consumer standards. One of the first companies in Alaro City, Ariel Foods FZE, which completed its facility within a year, is the largest and most technically advanced ready-to-eat therapeutic foods producer in Africa. Its facility in Alaro City has an annual production facility of 18,000 metric tonnes and will produce standard nutritional therapeutic foods which are provided for malnourished people. The company’s foods are a high calorie combination of peanut paste, sugar, oil and milk powder which is fortified with 23 vitamins and minerals and designed for people who may not be able to digest solid food or receive supplements intravenously.
The focus on improving lives is also visible in the fact that residents signing up to live in the pioneer residential development within the city are also huge beneficiaries of this commitment to standards. Universal One, a project by Universal Homes, an award-winning residential community developer with British origins, comprises of 576 apartments which will feature open-plan living rooms with expansive balconies, modern kitchens with polished granite worktops, wooden teak textured ceramic tiles, 100L solar water heating, smoke detectors and white UV wardrobes. John Latham, the Executive Director of Universal Homes, said the firm chose Alaro City because of the relationship it has with its developer who is also building Tatu City in Kenya. “Alaro City is the ideal place for the sort of modern living that we have come to represent,” he said.
Chairman of Alaro City, Ayo Gbeleyi, believes that the city is just beginning in its quest to not only enhance industrialization in the country but also serve as a model for the improvement of standards in the country. “Just like Lagos State has served as a centre of excellence and a model for standards in the country, we are pleased but not surprised to see this unique partnership between a government that symbolises standards and a reputable developer that has pioneered innovation within the continent resulting in a catalyst for improved consumer standards,” he said. “Alaro City is a facilitator for innovation, industrialization and consumer satisfaction. In so many ways, the city is a mirror of the initiatives of the administration of His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and that is why we will always use it to show the sort of objectives we want to achieve with other partnerships between the Lagos Government and the private sector.”
