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THE explosion of a petrol tanker on the Lambata–Lapai-Bida highway in Niger State on Tuesday, October 21, exposes the deadly cost of government neglect of critical infrastructure and residents’ desperate risks to survive. The blast, which engulfed scores of villagers who rushed to scoop fuel, left at least 42 people dead and 53 injured, The ICIR reports.
Abdullahi Alhaji, 25, was still in shock and disbelief as he sat on the edge of a hospital bed in the Federal Medical Centre, Bida. His legs bandaged and arms wrapped in gauze, his face and upper part of his back bore the scars of fresh burns.
Each time he tried to speak or gesture, his body trembled from the pain he suffered from the explosion. His agony is compounded by the loss of his loved ones during the incident.
At noon on Tuesday, October. 21, 2025, Abdullahi was supposed to be heading to his family farm when he heard that a petrol tanker had overturned along the Bida–Lambata road. Tempted by the thought of making some money from the spillage, he grabbed a bucket and dashed toward the scene. He was soon joined by relatives, friends and other residents, mostly men and women in Essa town. Some of them The ICIR learnt were visitors who had come for a wedding ceremony in the community.
At first, the atmosphere was filled with excitement as people scooped petrol into small containers. In the viral videos seen, some passersby watched from a distance, while passersby warned them to move away from the tanker. Minutes later, the tanker exploded, and a fiery wave of fire tore through them.
Abdullahi said he had just stepped aside with his small bucket when the explosion erupted but was still thrown to the ground with his entire body covered in flames.
“I was at home preparing to go to the farm to harvest groundnuts when I heard the crashing of a tanker. I then rushed to fetch,” he recalls, adding: “I succeeded in fetching but all of a sudden I saw fire engulfing people.”
By the time the fire subsided, about 29 people were dead at the scene, most of them burned beyond recognition. Over 60 others who suffered varying degrees of injuries were instantly moved to the community PHC and other private clinics in the area. Lack the capacity to handle such situations led to them being transferred to the General Hospital and Federal Medical Centre Bida.
Charred motorcycles, melted jerrycans, burnt containers and sandals littered the roadside to the site. The remains of the tanker still smouldered a day later.
The local coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Hussaini, confirmed the explosion.
Two days after the incident Aisha Idris is still reeling from the loss of three family members. She bears visible burns across her body, but that is the least of her pain.
Aisha was preparing food for her family when she heard that a tanker had fallen nearby. At that moment, she couldn’t find her two children around the house. She immediately thought they might have gone to the scene to scoop petrol. Without thinking twice, she abandoned the half-cooked meal and ran toward the site.
But as she got closer, the tanker exploded and the blast threw her to the ground. Her body burned and bruised. It was only later that she realised her children had never gone there.
“I heard that a tanker had fallen and couldn’t find my two children. I ran to the scene to check on them, and that was when I got burnt. But the children were safe. Still, I lost three of my husband’s family members. They had followed others to the place and became victims of the fire.”
Death toll
Independent findings by The ICIR revealed that 42 people have been confirmed dead, while 53 others sustained varying degrees of burns in the explosion.
Speaking with The ICIR, the Essa village head, Muhammad Daudu, who also lost a family member in the incident, said 42 deaths had been confirmed as of October 23, two days after the explosion.
According to him, some of the injured victims had been transferred to the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital for further treatment.
At the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida, 13 patients remained hospitalised in the trauma and emergency units, it was gathered during a visit to the clinic. The hospital’s spokesperson, Philip Arokoyo, confirmed that 12 of the victims were moved to FMC Jabi, Abuja, while 13 others were being treated after referral from Bida General Hospital.
The casualty figure was further corroborated by the official figure from the Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Authority, Abdullahi Baba Arah, who confirmed that the death toll rose to 42 on October 22.
How tanker exploded
There are different accounts of how the tanker exploded and left dozens of people dead.
While the DG of NEMA in the state said the high temperature ignited the fire, accounts from survivors and eyewitnesses claimed someone in an attempt to scare people from scooping the tanker lit the scene.
Some of the survivors claimed it was the driver of the lorry who was said to have been subsequently thrown into the flame by angry survivors.
The community vigilante officer, Salihu Aliyu, told The ICIR he arrived moments after the explosion.
“We saw people burnt beyond recognition, some half burnt,” he said, adding: “We counted over 20 dead. The fire started after one man brought out a lighter, threatening he would set the place on fire if people didn’t stop scooping. Before anyone could stop him, the fuel caught fire.”
Other residents, however, blamed the tragedy on the poor condition of the road and the lack of swift emergency response. They said no emergency services arrived until long after the explosion had consumed everything.
A deadly recurring decimal
This is not the first time a fuel tanker explosion has claimed dozens of lives in Nigeria, including Niger State. In the past years, at least 70 similar incidents have occurred across 22 states and the FCT since 2023, leaving at least 740 dead and several others injured. Weak regulations, bad roads, and poverty continue to drive desperate residents toward such perilous scenes, where free petrol often ends in fire and death.
Analysis shows that there were at least 25 incidents in 2023, 22 in 2024, and 23 so far in 2025, with two months remaining before the end of the year.
Niger State has been one of the hotspots. Our analysis shows four recorded tanker incidents in the state between 2023 and 2025. No fewer than 204 people have been killed, according to media reports. The Lambata–Lapai–Bida highway, where the latest explosion occurred, has featured prominently in past incidents due to its deplorable condition and the heavy volume of fuel-laden trucks that ply the route daily. In September of the same year, another 59 people were reportedly killed in Niger State after a fuel tanker collided with a truck carrying passengers and cattle.
Similarly, in January 2025, another incident along Dikko-Maje Road in the Suleja Local Government Areas left about 98 people dead.
The ICIR reports that this pattern in Niger only mirrors a wider national trend of death fuelled by tanker explosion. Data from the period under review shows that Lagos recorded the highest number of petrol or gas tanker incidents 11, followed by Oyo (9), Kwara (7), and Ogun (6). Jigawa recorded five tanker explosion incidents, with the most deadly being in 2024, claiming 209 lives. Both FCT and Niger recorded four incidents of tanker explosion.
Mourning loved ones
Yahya Babayadi sat among his kinsmen, head bowed, eyes fixed on the mat spread before him in his sitting room.
When he finally lifted his face, he raised a towel to dab the sweat from his brow. The men beside him took turns fanning him gently with a wooden hand fan. Babayadi remained silent, even when The ICIR reporter offered words of condolence. He had been in this state since the tragedy occurred two days earlier.
Like many others in the village, he lost both a son and his wife. His kinsmen said the boy was his next of kin and a child he had waited years to have. His wife, they add, was the closest and most cherished among his three.
Both mother and son were among the more than 30 women and children who died in the explosion. In its aftermath, at least 11 children between the ages of 7 and 18 were confirmed dead, while about 25 women were said to have died.
A few compounds away, Zubairu Kolo nurses a similar pain. His wife and two sons Gambo and Mohammed were among the victims both known for helping their father in the farm.
Kolo, who also sat on a mat made from old sacks, said the situation was terrifying for his family, adding that it was a great loss that they never prayed for their enemy.
“I was in the house when I heard the neighbour running towards the scene,” Kolo recalls, his voice barely audible. “I never expected my wife or two sons to be among the casualty because they had gone to the farm.”
‘I lost my wife, son, two nephews’
When the petrol tanker overturned on the Bida–Agaie highway, Ndaluchi Muhammad was far away from work. The 50-year-old social welfare officer was in Badeggi, Katcha Local Government, when he received a call about the incident.
“I heard that a tanker had fallen,” he told The ICIR. “I rushed home, but when I got there, I didn’t see my wife or my daughter. People said they went to fetch petrol. By the time I reached the scene, they were already gone.”
His wife had been his only partner. “She was all I had,” he says. “I had warned her several times about scooping petrol. I told her it was wrong, that people had died from it in neighbouring villages.”
The ICIR gathered that across compounds in Essa, residents are aware of the dangers posed by fallen tankers, having witnessed similar incidents in neighbouring towns.
Pregnant women affected
At the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Bida, Aminat Yakubu, about seven months pregnant, lies on a hospital bed with her body wrapped in a blue bedsheet. Dressed in white gauze, both arms and two legs are badly burned.
“She inhaled too much smoke and sustained second-degree burns,” said a nurse who spoke to The ICIR on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak publicly. “She was brought in alongside others. Although, she is feeling pains, her pregnancy is still safe.”
Yakubu was among those who rushed to the scene of the fallen tanker after hearing that fuel was spilling.
“I heard of the falling tanker then rushed to fetch petrol and got burned. I am feeling heat all over my body.”
While Aminat continues to battle for recovery in Bida, thirty-five-year-old Fatimah Umar, another pregnant woman, is being treated at the Essa Primary Healthcare Centre. Umar, who is also seven months pregnant, said she was lucky to have survived because she had only gone there to look for his brother.
“I came for a wedding ceremony at Essa when we heard a tanker fall,” she says. “I was looking for my brother when the tanker exploded. He had gone there along with residents of the community. He died in the flames.”
The head of the health workers at the Essa PHC Usman Yakubu said Fatimah was among those being treated at the facility since the incident. Yakubu explained that Umar suffered a minor injury compared to others and her pregnancy was being closely monitored.
A death trap
Residents, including the village head blamed the accident on the Lambata–Lapai–Bida road, which they said has been a death trap for over 15 years.
They noted that road accidents were common occurrences in the area and that the deplorable state of the road had caused several tragedies. Some pregnant women, they said, lost their pregnancies while travelling on the road, while others requiring emergency medical attention either died on the way or had their conditions worsen before reaching the FMC or the General Hospital in Bida.
Residents said small vehicles rarely use the road anymore after repeated accidents involving fallen containers crushing cars and passengers. “Many people stopped driving small cars here,” said Nasiru Begede, adding: “Containers have fallen on them several times, killing or seriously injuring the occupants. Now, most of those with small cars take longer alternative routes to avoid this road.”
Along the 124-kilometre stretch from Bida to Agaie, The ICIR counted more than ten fallen containers and two overturned tankers. The road is largely untarred, dusty, and riddled with potholes. Only a few short portions around Agaie are tarred, while from Katcha LGA to Bida, the entire route remains bare. During the harmattan and dry seasons, dust clouds often rise thickly, blocking visibility and worsening the risks for motorists.
Another incident averted
Barely five days after a deadly explosion claimed several lives in Essa community, another potential tragedy was averted in Niger State on Sunday, October 26. A fuel tanker traveling from Lagos to Kano reportedly overturned in Takalafiya, along the Lapai–Lambata road in Lapai Local Government Area, around 8 a.m.
According to reports, the swift intervention of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), the Fire Service, the Nigeria Security, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) prevented what could have become another devastating fire outbreak.
Weak regulation, enforcement
Beyond the poor road, locals, truck drivers and safety experts blame weak regulation and enforcement for the recurring disasters. They blamed the frequency of these crashes also on a lack of enforcement of road safety measures, including speed and load limits. lack of enforcement of road safety measures, including speed and load limits.
Speaking with The ICIR, a public affairs analyst, Ambali Abdulkabeer, explained that fuel tanker accidents stem from both human and infrastructural factors, adding that many tanker drivers are reckless, lack proper training, and are often ignorant of traffic regulations.
He pointed out that fuel tankers are not regularly maintained to ensure roadworthiness.
“Beyond these human factors, Nigerian roads are in poor condition and unfit for fuel tankers. The absence of designated routes for these vehicles worsens the situation, increasing the risk of accidents,” he said.
Abdulkabeer stressed the importance of government enforcement of stricter safety regulations for fuel tanker operators. He urged regular vehicle inspections and sustained public awareness campaigns to educate people about the dangers of tanker explosions.
“Drivers must be educated on the risks involved, and stringent traffic laws must be enforced to reduce recklessness on the roads,” he added.
On fuel scooping incidents, Abdulkabeer linked them to economic hardship, stating that while desperation may push people into risky behaviours, it does not justify endangering lives. “Nigerians have to take responsibility, too. Carelessness contributes to these avoidable deaths,” he noted.
He urged the government to address economic hardship, invest in road infrastructure, and create specific routes for fuel tankers to ensure safer movement. “It is unwise to allow fuel tankers to ply roads close to cities without restrictions,” he said.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M