At least three people have been critically injured after a cylinder that stores Compressed Natural Gas exploded on Wednesday at NIPCO gas station in Aduwawa, Benin City, Edo State.

Spokesperson for the Edo State Police Command, Moses Joel Yamu, confirmed the incident to Peoples Gazette on Thursday. The three casualties were all employees of NIPCO station.

“It’s an Audi car whose CNG cylinder exploded at Nipco filling station. Injured three persons who are currently responding to treatment at UBTH,” Mr Yamu said in a statement to The Gazette on Thursday

The driver of the ill-fated vehicle drove his Audi to the gas station to refill his CNG cylinder when it suddenly exploded. The force of the blast blew open the boot and tore off the roof of the car.

The damage extended to the backseat, affecting everything in its path, from the rear windshield to the taillights, leaving the car mangled beyond recognition.

The incident renews safety concerns about the adoption of CNG which the President Bola Tinubu administration is working hard to implement.

The federal government believes the CNG to be an affordable alternative to fuel vehicles given the expensive cost of premium motor spirit which sells for over N1000 in government-supported NNPCL stations and over N1400 in the black market.

Netizens are saying they would rather stick to using petrol to fuel their vehicles until the government guarantees that CNG was safe for use by converting the president’s car and those of legislators.

“Until BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) and his entire cabinet start using CNG-powered vehicles themselves, it’s NOT safe—especially in Nigeria, where health and safety are often disregarded,” Ben Samuel wrote on X.

“This whole CNG conversion seems rushed and ill planned. Also, we are not safety conscious people,” Korddiri wrote on X. “I can condone converting petrol generators to gas, not cars. Not until there is an assurance of safety by relevant authorities/manufacturers.”

Fabulous tweeted “Na mumu dey convert him car to CNG. Until T-Pain and his executive members and all the lawmakers convert their vehicles, I will advise, don’t you ever do that.”