The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has announced a ban on 60,000-litre fuel tankers from operating on Nigerian roads, effective March 1, 2025.
This was disclosed on Wednesday by the NMDPRA Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha who revealed that the decision was made in response to the increasing number of road accidents involving heavy-duty petroleum tankers.
According to him, to assuage this reoccurrence,such decision became inevitable.
“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, following deliberations involving key agencies including the Department of State Services (DSS), Federal Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (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.
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“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.
Reacting to the rising number of fatalities, he said; “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.
By Anthony Ogbekile
