The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has announced that from March 1, 2025, the ban of trucks carrying over 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon products from loading from depots.
Executive Director, Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA, Ogbugo Ukoha, during a briefing in Abuja in Wednesday also said 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.
He explained that measures were agreed during the meeting NMDPRA had with stakeholders in the industry to address the recurring accidents and explosion in the Nigerian roads as a result of overloaded petroleum products trucks.
He added that the stakeholders that held the consensus decision at the meeting also attended by leadership or representatives of the Department of State Services (DSS); Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN); Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA); Federal Fire Service; Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG); Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) among others.
According to him, the ban will be implemented in phases in order to allow the investors time to adjust to the directive.
He stated that the investors, especially truck owners, need time to redesign the trucks and redirect their funding.
Ukoha said: “Beginning 1st March, trucks with capacity in excess of 60,000 litres will not be allowed to load in any loading depot of petroleum products.
”By Q4 2025, we will also preclude the loading of transportation of petroleum products of any truck in excess of 45,000 litres. That is the breaking news for today.
“Breaking news about that today is that in today’s meeting comprising DSS, FERMA, Federal Fire Service, Road Safety, NARTO, NUPENG, MEMAN, PETROAN, IPMAN, DAPMAN, SON.” he said
Ukoha also concurred with the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) that NNPC Ltd has not imported fuel in 2025.
He stated that less than 60 per cent of the national consumption is met from domestic refineries while the shortfall is imported by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
He said: “You must meet those specifications, otherwise we will not let those products be distributed.
“Finally, let me just say a word about what the responsibility we all bear. The regulator will usually be more circumspect and not run, chasing or responding to every, any comments that are made in the public.
“But it is 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. So people who make unscientific claims, that make bogus data expertise claims of that, are really not helping the situation.
“As a regulator, we are working very hard in compliance with the presidential and statutory mandates we have to support the local refineries to build capacity to the point that Nigerians will have sufficient products and not just quality but pricing is also done in a transparent, competitive and fair way.”
