FG’s ban on 60,000-litre fuel tankers effective March 1 – NMDPRA
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says the ban on 60,000-litre fuel tankers from operating on Nigerian roads will come into effect on March 1, 2025.
NMDPRA also said trucks with over 45,000 litres capacity will be allowed to load products by the fourth quarter of 2025.
The Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, said on Wednesday that the decision was jointly taken by stakeholders.
He said it was to reduce the increasing cases of road accidents and fatalities involving heavy-duty petroleum tankers.
“The first stakeholders’ technical committee met today to drill down and put timelines for about 10 resolutions that had been taken on how to drive down the significant increase that had been observed in relation to trucks and transit incidents and fatalities.”
According to him, the deliberations involved key stakeholders including the Department of State Services, Federal Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Standards Organisation of Nigeria, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, and NMDPRA.
“It was agreed that from March 1, 2025, any truck with an axle load of more than 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon will not be allowed to load at any depot.
“The important thing about this is that, for the first time, consensus was built amongst all stakeholders, and we are continuing to encourage that. We will work together cohesively to deliver a safe transportation of petroleum products across the country,” he said.
Ukoha said that the stakeholders were genuinely concerned about the rising number of fatalities in such accidents.
“We noticed in 2023, what we thought was a significant increase in trucks and transit incidents. But in 2024, what we thought was an increase in 2023 was, sadly, much more.
“Last week when we hosted another stakeholders meeting, we even pointed to the fact that the January occurrences are threatening to even exceed or catch with the 2024 figure. And so, we must draw a line and say, this can no longer continue. There were about 10 interventions that were determined that will mitigate this.”
Compliance will cost tanker owners N300bn – NARTO
NARTO had in the wake of the meetings, expressed fear over the ban.
NARTO President, Yusuf Othman, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said the move would cause a loss of N300 billion worth of investments by the tanker owners.
Othman had argued then that the accidents were caused by the poor condition of roads not the capacity of the vehicles.
He said that the ban will affect 2,000 trucks with 60,000 litres capacity each worth N150 million, thus N300 billion investments are involved in the transportation of petroleum products nationwide.
Othman explained that some of these investments were financed by commercial banks, while some were through the personal investments of the tanker owners.
He appealed to the federal government to consider a buy-back policy to help the investors before phasing out the 60,000-litre tankers.
172 oil trucks accidents, 1,896 deaths reported since 2009
The latest oil tanker explosion, which killed nearly 98 people in Niger State, brought attention to the alarming death toll from such incidents since 2009.
A data analysis by Anadolu revealed that oil tanker explosion have resulted in approximately 1,896 fatalities over the past 16 years.
Before October 2024, the highest fatalities was recorded in 2019, according to a study published in the Nigerian Research Journal of Engineering and Environmental Sciences.
A catastrophic explosion on Oct. 15, 2024, in Majia, a town in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State, claimed 181 lives. This incident made 2024 the deadliest year on record, with a total of 266 fatalities.
Between January 2009 and January 2025, Nigeria recorded 172 oil tanker fires and explosions, which caused 1,896 deaths.
The study identified several key factors contributing to these accidents, including individuals collecting spilled fuel, tanker crashes in crowded areas, vehicle collisions, and human errors.
More than 100 incidents were linked to human-related factors, according to the research.
Since May 2023, Nigeria has reported 28 oil tanker accidents, resulting in 468 deaths. These incidents account for over 15% of all accidents and nearly 25% of the fatalities recorded since 2009.
