Nigerian government bars 60,000-litre fuel tankers from roads

The federal government has banned 60,000-litre fuel tankers from operating on Nigerian roads, effective March 1, 2025.

The government made the disclosure through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on Wednesday.

NMDPRA said the move is to mitigate truck-in-transit incidents, some of which had resulted in infernos and several deaths.

The agency also explained that no truck with over 45,000 litres in capacity will be allowed to load products by the fourth quarter of 2025.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, Ogbugo Ukoha, NMDPRA Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage, and Retailing Infrastructure, said the decision was made in response to the increasing number of road accidents involving heavy-duty petroleum tankers.

He said, “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.

“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.

“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 up or exceed the 2024. 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.”

Recall that in the wake of the meetings, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) had expressed fear over the federal government’s plan to ban 60,000 litres capacity tankers.

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, however, said the cause of the accidents was not the usage of 60,000 litres tanker capacity but could be attributed to the condition of the roads, the condition of the vehicles and the drivers.

He said that 2,000 trucks with 60,000 litres capacity worth N150 million each, amounting to N300 billion investments were involved in the transportation of petroleum products nationwide.

Othman explained that some of these investments were financed by the commercial banks, while some were personal investments of the tanker owners.

He appealed to the federal government to consider a buy-back policy to help the investors, if it wishes to phase out completely the usage of 60,000 litres tanker capacity in the distribution of petroleum products.

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.