The toll is expected to rise from the blast, which happened late evening local time on Tuesday in Majiya, a village in Jigawa state.
“The driver lost control and the tanker somersaulted and spilled fuel into a drainage ditch,” Jigawa police spokesperson Shiisu Lawan Adam said.
“As a result, residents rushed to scoop the fuel when the explosion happened.”
Adam said at least 50 people were seriously injured, adding that the death toll was provisional.
The blast comes a month after at least 48 people were killed in a similar accident in the north-central Niger state.
Fuel tanker explosions are not unusual in Africa’s most populous country, where oil supplies are frequently dispatched by road.
Previous fires have led to multiple casualties. In 2020, more than 500 people lost their lives in more than 1,500 fuel tanker accidents recorded that year, according to Nigeria’s road safety agency.
Residents, beleaguered by soaring living costs in the West African nation – where gasoline is scarce and expensive – often brave danger to scoop fuel from fallen tankers or damaged oil pipelines.
Gas prices have dramatically risen to more than six times their usual rate after the government said last year it would no longer subsidize gasoline.
Poverty remains rife in Nigeria despite its status as one of Africa’s largest oil producers.