The Federal Government has announced a ban on trucks carrying over 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon products from loading at depots and travelling on federal roads, effective from March 1, 2025
It also announced that from the Fourth Quarter of 2025, no truck carrying more than 45,000 litres of petroleum products shall be allowed to load from the depots.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, announced this at a briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.
The announcement, according to him, was a sequel to the meeting the authority held with stakeholders in the industry owing to the recurring accidents and explosions due to overloaded petroleum products trucks.
Recall that last week, the government, at a meeting with stakeholders, hinted at plans to impose a ban on trucks with 60,000-litre capacity, preventing them from operating on federal highways.
This follows the increasing number of deaths resulting from petrol tanker accidents, which has led to the death of 493 persons in three years.
But the President of the National Association of Road Transport Owners, Yusuf Othman, opposing the potential ban, said such a move would lead to a potential loss of over N300bn investment.
He lamented that over 2,000 trucks will be abandoned and an investment of over N150m for each truck will be lost.
However, announcing the ban after a fresh stakeholders meeting on Wednesday, the regulatory authority stated that it has decided to break down and establish timelines for about 10 resolutions aimed at addressing the significant increase in truck-related transit incidents and fatalities.
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