The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said 276,000 people have been
displaced by Sunday’s gas inferno that engulfed the Abule Ado and Soba areas
of the state.
Dr Oluwafemi Oke-Osanyintolu, Director-General, Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency (LASEMA), disclosed this newsmen in Lagos while
assessing the damage at the scene of the incident.
Oke-Osanyintolu, who expressed shock at the level of destruction, said the
impact assessment by the agency would enable the state government make
provision for the people.
According to him, one of the rescued victims is receiving care at the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital under the care of the state.
“Another is at the Nigerian Navy Hospital; one is at the Igando General Hospital
with one at the Golden Cross Hospital receiving treatment on the state’s bill.
“Five schools, three churches, one hotel and a shopping complex were
destroyed, the assessment of the structures was determined by the Lagos State
Material Testing Department,’’ he said.
The LASEMA boss, who declined to place a figure on the number of human
casualties, said that the state had a figure but that investigation was still ongoing
so no figure could be made public now.
He said that the assessment team recorded 170 buildings that got damaged in
the area as a result of the fire outbreak, 40 cars and three articulated vehicles.
He added that the governor had instructed that the displaced people be taken to
the Igando Camp for resettlement all the agencies had made vehicles available
to convey survivors to the camp.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gas fire that occurred at 9
a.m. on Sunday had made the once commercial community desolate with heavy
security presence guiding the area to forestall crisis.
The fire was caused by gas explosion, ruptured the Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) pipeline.
