Petroleum, Gas industry Collaborate To End Tanker Explosion in Taraba
By Our Correspondent
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on Thursday hosted critical stakeholders in safety sub sector to address incessant incidents of tanker explosion in Taraba State.
Engr Abdullahi Bature, Coordinator of the NMDPRA in Taraba State, while addressing stakeholders at its First Quarter Stakeholders Meeting in Jalingo, said Taraba State has recorded three tanker explosion incidents in 2025.
Bature said that the collaboration became necessary for the identification of workable solutions to the challenge.
He stated that such incidences had caused a lot of downturn on the economy as well as led to lost of lives.
He said that the safety of drivers was a matter of concern to the agency, encouraging the stakeholders to suggest measures that could stem the tide of tanker explosions in the state.
The State Coordinator also said that the agency was considering the use of various media platforms especially the electronic for the sensitization of drivers on safety measures.
In his presentation, Engr Muazu Sale Muhammed, Head of Gas, spoke on ‘Tanker explosion incidents and truck-in-transit accident resulting in fatalities and other unwarranted injuries.
He emphasised that the safety of operators was paramount to the organisation.
Muhammed recalled that the Headquarters of the agency at the national level in February 2025, held a stakeholders meeting on the topic.
He said that the collaboration with all stakeholders in the state was intended to replicate in the state, measures that could address the ugly trend.
He urged participants to identify workable resolutions that would be enforced to achieve the goal.
He also identified training and retraining of drivers, ban on the use of drugs and alcohol by drivers, fatigue among many others as factors that cause accidents of trucks carrying products.
Alhaji Ahmed Isa of National Association of Transport Owners (NATO), commended NMDPRA for bringing partners together with a view to charting a common cause.
Isa observed that NATO was to be the only beneficiary of the safety awareness strategy of the agency.
He said that NATO members lost several vehicles and products through accidents, adding that the menace had a direct economic effect on their businesses.
In his remark, Mr Adi Mikyin, a Superintendent of Fire Service as well as the representative of Federal Fire Service at the meeting, advised stakeholders to prioritise training and retraining of drivers with their assistants.
Mikyin observed that lack of professionalism was a major factor that caused accidents of the trucks.
Critical stakeholders such as Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Both state and federal fire services, Nigerian Police, Department of State Services, NATO, IPMAN and Vehicle Inspection Officers, (VIO) were all in attendance.
