FCTA To Sanction Defaulting Filling Stations

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has vowed not to only sanction filling stations in the FCT for violating the minimum safety standard on product discharge in their filling stations, but to also revoke their operating licenses.

The FCTA said that not only that, also the filling stations may be compelled to pay compensations to any third party whose property got affected as a result of their negligence.

The director general of FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Dr. Abbas Idriss who made this known while speaking with journalists in Abuja, said that the minister of the FCT, Mallam Muhammad Bello is worried about the increasing cases of filling station fires in the territory and has directed that such filling stations must be sanctioned for violating the laws regulating their business.

Idriss informed that the FCTA is liaising with the Upstream and the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and other stakeholders to ensure strict adherence to the regulations on product discharge.

“He said there is going to be a proper engagement of all the stakeholders as directed by the FCT minister to prevent further incidents of fire,” he said.

The FEMA boss emphasised that no filling station should discharge petroleum products when the temperature is high to avoid fire outbreaks.

The director general further stated that the FCTA was putting modalities in place to ensure that all filling stations in the territory have public liability insurance and maintain the minimum standard of fire defence equipment where the staff is adequately trained on safety standards.

“We will investigate and ensure that they have insurance so that they can pay compensation to the third parties,” he said.

Idriss described as unacceptable the recent attack on firemen in the course of fighting the fire at Enyo filling station, thereby appealing to residents to always use the 112-emergency toll-free numbers in the event of an emergency.