From Dan Amasingha, Minna & Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu

What could have turned out to be another major tragedy was averted on Monday as residents of Agaie stayed away from a petrol-laden tanker that overturned.

The incident happened along the Lapai-Agaie road.

The tanker, a third to overturn in two weeks in Niger State was said to be laden with 40,000 litres of Premium Motor Spirit.

Daily Asset gathered that both the driver of the vehicle and his conductor were rushed to the Lapai hospital for treatment as a result of injuries they sustained.

Eyewitness disclosed that the tanker suffered a front tyre burst which made it impossible for the driver to control the vehicle and it burst into flames.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Abdullahi Baba Arah, speaking through the organisation’s Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Ibrahim Hussaini confirmed the incident saying, “The accident happened in the bush.

“Our men are on their way to the point where the accident happened. I will get back to you when they return.”

Niger State Police Command also confirmed the incident in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun.

Abiodun said in the statement, “On 27/1/2025 at about 6.30pm, there was a lone fuel tanker accident with fire explosion along Agaie/Lapai road.

“The fuel tanker with Reg. No. DKA 03 A was driven by one Shamsudeen Dayabu of Matazun LGA of Katsina State on transit from Lagos to Kaduna and was loaded with about forty thousand liters of PMS.

“On reaching Kusogbogi area of Agaie, the tanker lost control due to a burst front tyre, and fell by the road into the drainage.

“As a result, the tanker caught fire and affected the driver on the leg and the motor boy was also affected,” Abiodun said.

According to him, the two were taken to a nearby hospital adding that “No life was lost in the incident as the road was temporarily closed.”

He said normalcy was later restored for road users.

In a related incident at Dikko in Gurara Local Government over a week ago not less than 100 people died and 60 others injured with more than 20 houses burnt.

Some of the injured in the explosion are still receiving treatment at the New Wuse and Suleja General hospitals while serious ones were transferred to both the National and Gwagwalada hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

NSEMA has now also confirmed that 14 houses were totally destroyed and 27 others partially in the explosion which took place at Sabon-Pegi in the Mashegu local government on Sunday morning.

The agency said six people were injured in the accident.

Following the incident in Enugu, the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has reiterated his call for the enforcement of anti-spill lock on fuel tankers across the country, saying that disasters arising from tanker-spill have become too frequent.

Mbah restated the call yesterday when he received in his office the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs. Zubaida Umar, and her team who were in Enugu to flag-off the distribution of emergency intervention items to the victims of the Saturday tanker fire that caused the loss of several lives on the spot and also consumed several vehicles and goods at Ugwu Onyeama along the Enugu-Onitsha federal highway.

“As I stated when I visited the scene, we have disasters that we know that we obviously could not have envisaged or predicted; and when they happen, we trigger all the responses that we have set up.

“But this issue of tanker fire or explosion is becoming too recurrent and I did call on the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to ensure the enforcement of the anti-spill lock. This is because if we have anti-spill lock on those tankers carrying inflammable products like petrol and automotive gas oil, we will then be able to mitigate such disasters because even if the tanker falls, it will still not spill. But what happened in Enugu was a function of the spill of PMS (petrol) that got into other cars, and they got ignited.

“So, I will always want to use this opportunity again to reiterate my call on the law enforcement agencies to ensure strict enforcement of the anti-spill lock on all our petroleum product tankers. It is extremely important,” he stated.

Mrs. Umar, while commiserating with the government and people of Enugu State over the sad incident, commended Mbah for showing leadership in the midst of the disaster.

“I wish to commend you for the timely visit to the scene of the incident and various decisions made, including ensuring that maximum medical attention was given to the survivors.

“Today’s flag-off of relief assistance to the victims of tanker fire is therefore an outcome of the collaborative initiative, which NEMA has put in place to support the population at risk. It is the collective responsibility of all tiers of government to provide support to disaster victims; hence, NEMA is therefore complementing the efforts of the state government,” she said.

She announced  a donation of  relief materials consisting of 200 25kg-bags of Rice, 200 cartons of spaghetti, 20 cartons of five-litre vegetable oil, 20 cartons of seasoning and 20 cartons of tomatoes paste and medicaments and medical consumables to persons affected and impacted by the tanker fire explosion in Enugu State.

The DG also added her voice to the alarm over the increasing rate of tanker fire in various parts of the country.

“The increasing cases of tanker fire explosion across Nigeria are not only devastating, but also a clog on the wheel of progress and economic development of our communities. Such incidents have negatively impacted lives, property, the environment, and have a grave potential of slowing down our developmental strides,” the DG concluded.