Following the recent gas fire explosion in Aguda, Surulere, Lagos, victims have been counting their losses. Many have also been calling on the government for assistance to get back on their feet. More importantly, it has again brought to the fore the need to readdress the surge in indiscriminate location of gas facilities across the country. Omolara Akintoye writes
Where do I start from, with all my machines gone and nothing to work with? The fact that I bought most of these machines on credit makes this whole fire incident really hard to bear. I’ve been managing to pay back the loan; but now that all the machines are burnt, what do I tell the owners? They are already asking for their money”
Those were the tearful words of Okoro Nnamdi, whose properties and work tools got consumed in a recent gas fire outbreak in a building on Babs Animashaun Street, Aguda, Surulere.
The Surulere gas fire will go down as the most recent in what has become a regular occurrence across the country. Many would remember the inferno that claimed lives and property in Nasarawa late last year, when leaking gas from a gas plant at the centre of town got ignited by a spark from a vehicle exhaust pipe. That incident led to the death of over a score of people, including students, left many injured and about a dozen vehicles burnt. Many will also remember the January 2018 explosion at a gas facility in the Magodo area of Lagos that got Lagosians palpitating in fear for hours. That also claimed 10 human lives.
It is perhaps for this reason that many are thankful for the most recent incident, as it claimed no life. But its effect was by no means negligible.
Chukwura Ngozi, a caterer in one of the shops affected, expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost, but nevertheless lamented her loss. She enumerated goods she lost in the fire to include a microwave, freezers, a blender, mixers, bags of rice and other food items among others.
Narrating the incident, Chukwura said, “It all started in the afternoon. I saw a thick smoke at the back of my shop. There was this man who moved into one of the shops within the compound two weeks ago and was selling gas; the fire started from his shop. As soon as I saw the smoke, I quickly asked my salesgirls to come out of the shop; we couldn’t bring out anything because they all got burnt. Thank God no life was lost, but the properties…. Only God knows how I can get them back.”
Another person who suffered great loss in the gas inferno is Oluwasegun Alawoki, a power bike mechanic. The Nation met him at the site of his shop, now razed. He had come to gather what was left.
“It was a sad experience,” he recalled, sadly. “Five Tokunboh cars and four power bikes got burnt. As you can see, nothing is left. We even tried to put out the fire with many fire extinguishers, to no avail. Properties worth over N50 million got burnt in the inferno” he said.
While Alawoki is calling on well meaning Nigerians for financial assistance, he is also calling on the government to ensure that gas owners don’t stay in residential areas any more, but properly situated gas stations. His words, “We are pleading with the government to allow us to continue using this place; you can see we are now back to square one; I can no longer fend for my family. I even have some debts to pay. Government should ensure that gas sellers don’t sell in residential areas anymore,” he said.
Although the fire was contained within a couple of hours, the people affected will not forget in a hurry.
The workshop has since been sealed off by Lagos State government. Speaking with Commander, Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC), CSO Omilani Temitope, who was on ground with other officials to monitor the movement of the people within the compound, said, “We have been here since the day the incident happened. As soon as we were alerted, we quickly alerted the appropriate agencies and they came down immediately. Our job here since then has been to give support security-wise, so that people will not take advantage of the situation to steal other people’s properties. We are only here to provide maximum security for residents. Don’t forget that it is not the whole of the mechanic workshop that got burnt, and we would not want anybody to come and carry what does not belong to them. So, we partner with the committee of the mechanic village to identify themselves before packing anything.”
According to Omilani, the fire started from the gas shop inside the mini mechanic village and ignited every other shop in the vicinity.
Speaking on why the place was sealed-off, even from those who resided within the compound, Omilani said, “You know once such a thing happens, government will have to seal-off the place for security reasons. Normally, people are not supposed to live within this compound but there is a man who built a house at the back and it’s unfortunate that they are using the same entrance with the mechanic village, and we have to lock all of them out. But on Saturday, the government decided to open only one entrance for the residents, pending the time the matter will be resolved amicably. Also it was directed that all the shop owners whose properties got burnt should pack the remains of their properties.”
Asked if the shop owners would have relocating, Omilani said “Only the Lagos State government has the final say.”
Sunday Nation also spoke with the landlord of the residential house located within the mechanic compound, Taoreed Babatunde Fashola. He said, “That fateful day, I was fast asleep when I heard people shouting. I peeped through the window and saw a thick smoke. I rushed out, only to discover that there was a fire outbreak.”
According to Fashola, the house was built long before the mechanics came there; “but unfortunately we now share the same compound. We quickly informed the Fire Service when the incident happened. We were all directed to go out of the compound and the place was sealed off. We all slept outside for 3 days. It was a terrible experience.”
He said the compound was opened on Saturday, three days after.
Fashola said the man, whose gas shop led to the explosion, moved in only three weeks earlier.
“I even queried those who gave him the shop but they could not say anything until this incident happened. Thank God no life was lost but for those who lost properties, the government should assist them financially because times are hard,” said Fashola.
Following the gas explosions in Lagos this week, the issue of safety in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas subsector has again taken centre stage, with industry stakeholders expressing concerns over the existing safety gaps, as the drive to boost cooking gas consumption gains momentum.
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Mr. Bassey Essien, stressed the need for safety consciousness in the LPG sector. “We have to be safety conscious and put all the safety parameters in place; especially with the nature of the product, we need to be very safety conscious and create the awareness among the customers. We cannot play down on safety,” he said.
