The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has stated that trucks with capacity to carry over 60,000 litres of hydrocarbon products will not be allowed to load at depots as from March 1.

It announced that as from the fourth quarter of this year, no truck carrying more than 45,000 litres of petroleum products would be allowed to load from depots.

The agency’s Executive Director for Distribution System, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, Ogbugo Ukoha, announced this at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja.

The announcement, according to him, followed the agency’s meeting with stakeholders in the industry, on the heels of reoccurring accidents and explosions caused by trucks overloaded with petroleum products.

He said: “Beginning from March 1, trucks with capacity in excess with 60,000 litres will not be allowed to load in any loading depot of petroleum products.

“By the fourth quarter of 2025, we will also go to preclude the loading of transportation of petroleum products of any truck in excess of 45,000 litres. That is the breaking news for today.”

Ukoha said the ban would be implemented in phases to give investors time to adjust to the directive.

According to him, the investors, especially truck owners, need time to redesign their trucks and redirect funding.

The union leader listed the stakeholders that agreed on the decision at the meeting as the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN), among others.

He said other stakeholders at the meeting included the Department of State Services (DSS), Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Federal Fire Service (FFS), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), MEMAN, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), IPMAN, Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), SON,” he said.

Ukoha said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had not imported the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol this year.

The confirmation came on the heels of some reports that the state-owned oil firm’s imported PMS burns faster than that of Dangote Refinery.

The NMDPRA director said all the petroleum products imported to the country this year are of standard quality.

Ukoha berated those he said have been releasing bogus claims concerning product quality on the social media.

The NMDPRA director assured Nigerians that the agency does not permit the distribution of products that fall short of quality standards.

“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 …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.”