Pipeline: Nigeria to save N160bn with security, safety technology

Effective deployment of security and safety gadgets in the monitoring of oil facilities across the country, will help the Federal Government save the $1 billion (N160 billion) it plans to spend on pipeline surveillance.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘curbing losses due to fire and allied claims,’ Mr. Okwy Okeke, Managing Director, Continental Alarm Limited, said the gadgets have been tested by some oil majors in the country and they have proven to be effective in policing the vast network of pipelines and other oil installations across the country.

According to him, the equipment can also be deployed in the power sector, to protect power installations, as well in the manufacturing and telecommunication sectors among others.

He further stated that insurance companies are beginning to groan under the high claims paid out to fire and other allied issues, saying that the security and safety gadgets will help address these.

He said, “Technology has solved many problems in our world, then mobile technology has changed the way we live in Nigeria in the last 12 years or so, and would continue to do so even as the simple Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) embedded  in a plastic is adapted to transmit different forms of data.

“Using a simple smoke detector with an embedded SIM card, many losses due to fire can be curbed just as the auto-tracker has curbed vehicle theft. Our smoke detectors will wirelessly transmit a text message and initiate a phone call to you besides just sounding an alarm in the event that it detects smoke.

“Conventional smoke detectors will sound an alarm on site, but what are the chances that the alarm will be heard and by the right person? For this simple reason, we present the new Videofield Optical Smoke Detector.

“The Videofield Optical Smoke Detector is a simple device that will help insurance companies save on fire and allied claims, and here is the simple reason  fire outbreaks are particularly catastrophic in Nigeria because we do not detect them early enough.

“The device has optical design, which includes Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) and when smoke enters the optical chamber across the path of the light beam, some light is scattered by the smoke particles, directing it at the sensor, thereby triggering the alarm.”

Continuing, he said, “The device is completely wireless, requiring no cables. This smoke detector can be installed in existing houses without fuss or risk of compromising the building aesthetics.”
Other features of the products, according to Okeke, is that it is battery powered by lithium 3.0 volts CR123 battery that could last for up to four years, while the product will send a signal to the control station if it is compromised or tampered with in any form.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/04/pipeline-nigeria-save-n160bn-security-safety-technology/#sthash.oMYA4r4C.dpuf