The National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), has expressed fear over the Federal Government’s plan to ban 60,000 litres capacity tankers, following the rising cases of accidents involving fuel tankers.
NARTO President, Yusuf Othman in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday – earlier today, February 16 – said such a move would cause a loss of N300b worth of investments by the tanker owners.
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), issaid to be considering placing a ban on 60,000-litre-capacity petroleum tankers, due to incessant accidents/deaths involving them in the country.
NMDPRA has proposed a restriction of petroleum tanker-capacity of a maximum of 45,000 litres to reduce accidents resulting in cases of explosion and fatalities.
Apart from determining appropriate truck carrying capacity, the NMDPRA has also reportedly put in place other safety measures, including installation of anti-spill safety valves in tanker trucks, public sensitisation against scooping at accident scenes and regular stakeholders’ meeting, among others.
The regulator is of the view that noncompliance with the established safety measures has been responsible for the recurrence of these accidents.
Othman, however, said the cause of the accidents is not the usage of 60,000-litre tankers but the state of the roads, condition of the vehicles and driver-errors.
He said that 2,000 trucks with 60,000 litres capacity worth N150m each, amounting to N300b investments are involved in the transportation of petroleum products nationwide, explaining that some of these investments were financed by the commercial banks, while some were personal investments of the tanker owners.
“Every truck owner is an investor and every investment is done with a view to getting a return on the investment.
“We have about 2,000 trucks worth about N150 million each, which is about N300 billion. It will not be fair for them to go down the drain; we are trying to see if there is a win-win situation.
“We all are not happy with the recent development that led to loss of lives and we pray that it will not be repeated again. It’s a huge monumental loss, as well as a monumental loss of investments.
“However, as much as we appreciate the concern of the public and government in this respect, we believe that the 60,000 litres tanker capacity is not the cause of the accidents because the weight is on the back axle.
“In such an accident, people rush to start scooping and in the process of doing that the explosion occurs,’’ he said.
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-litre tankers for the distribution of petroleum products.
Speaking on safety regulations and measures, he said the association has ensured compliance by the members and strived to ensure that only licensed, physically and mentally okay drivers ply the roads.
Disclosing that the association trains and retrains tanker drivers on a regular basis, and also strives to ensure that the trucks are inspected twice a year to be road worthy, Uthman maintained that the habit of scooping the petroleum products at the scene of the accidents is the main cause of the monumental loss of lives, hence the need for a vigorous public enlightenment on the dangers of such an adventure.
“If the capacity is reduced to 45,000, the truck cannot have a balance; reducing from 60,000 to 50,000 litres capacity could be fine, but not 45,000 litres capacity.
“All the 60,000 litres trucks are new, that is why they are able to carry 60,000 litres of petroleum products. Old trucks cannot carry 60,000 litres of products and are phased out because they don’t make any economic sense.
“We support the government and also want the government to support our private investments.
“We are still talking with the Federal Government, and I believe we will resolve it amicably,’’ he said.
