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 to mitigate truck-in-transit incidents.
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.
”The first stakeholder’s 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 recorded in relation to trucks and transit incidents and fatalities, ” he said.
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), Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria ( MEMAN), 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 Products depot.
”The important thing about this is that, for the first time, consensus was built amongst all stakeholders, and we’re continuing to encourage that we will continue to work together cohesively to deliver safe transportation of petroleum products across the country,” he said.
Ukoha dismissed recent claims questioning the quality of fuel in circulation across the country, describing them as bogus, misleading, and unscientific.
He assured Nigerians that all imported and locally refined petroleum products meet strict regulatory standards before being released into the market.
The regulator vowed to ensure compliance with petroleum industry standards and specifications, stressing that recent social media claims about the quality of fuel products in circulation are baseless and should be disregarded.
”The regulator would usually be more circumspect and not respond to every comment that is made in the public.
”But it’s important that people who dabble within the social media space are reminded that it is actually disrespectful, if you imagine that Nigerians are gullible.
”Innocent Nigerians are discerning enough to know that energies need to be directed positively. People who make unscientific claims, and the so-called energy expertise are only misleading the innocent Nigerians and really not helping the situation.
”As a regulator, we’re working very hard in compliance with the presidential and statutory mandates to support the local refineries, to build capacity to a point that Nigerians will have sufficient products, and not just quality, but pricing is also done in a transparent, competitive and fair way.
”That’s the priority we have as the regulator, and that is what we concern ourselves with every day, ” he said.
Ukoha assured Nigerians that NMDPRA would continue to comply with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 as well as the specifications set by SON.
”The standard organization specification includes parameters such as the Research Octane Number (RON), the sulfur content, the density, the color, the oxygenate level, and many other parameters that you find within that.
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