Dead State of Fire Service in Lagos Nigeria- Fire Accident Story At Ago Palace Okota Lagos

Since the departure of the colonial masters after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, Nigeria’s infrastructures and public service ministries have suffered great setbacks caused by leadership corruption that ushered in the habitual embezzlement of public funds by the leaders, and the recruitment of incompetent staffs based on bribery, favoristism and tribalism.  Details after the cut...

In this exclusive report filed in from the economic nerve of Nigeria, Lagos, a mere electric spark resulting from a faulty household electrical wiring, escalated to an unquenchable fire outbreak that consumed an entire one-storey building at Ago Palace, Okota Lagos State. Now the question remained, where was the Lagos State Fire Service when this fire began?

According to an eyewitness, a man who runs a grocery store near the street where this fire incident occurred on the 4^th of December 2012, Mr. Peter, the fire accident began around 5:30pm Nigerian local time.

“I was sitting in front of my shop relaxing because there were no customers, when I saw smoke coming out from that building,” he said, pointing his fingers towards the direction of the fire-gulped building.

“There was no way I could rush to that place because I was the only person in my shop, and you know the condition of this environment; once you leave your shop without any trusted person to look after it for you, you may end up losing some items in your shop when you return, and I don’t want that to happen to me, especially now that we are approaching the Christmas season,” he explained.

“So what did you do after you saw the smoke?” I asked him.

 “If I tell you that I did anything, then I am a liar because even before I stood up, other shop owners around have all gathered in front of this place,” he explained with a hand gesture, “and few people began to run towards that direction,” he concluded.

“But ever since the fire started, have you seen any fire service van passed?” I asked, “No, I have not seen any, and I have not heard their siren either,” he explained.

On getting to the fire accident scene, a one-storey building at number 17 Dosumu Hakeem street Ago palace Okota, flame was still coming out from the building, with sympathizers standing in front of the building, and few volunteers trying their best to put off the fire with every available material they could lay their hand on- foam water, sand, etc.

The moment one of the sympathizers cited me with a camera, she rushed towards my direction saying, “thank God the press people are here, please come interview me make I tell you as everything take happen,” she demanded. Before I could respond to her, another bystander walked up to me, “you better carry that camera comot from here before we collect am from you,” he cautioned me in Pidgin English.

“Why you go say that? Him come here to video the problem so that government go see say them no de do anything for this Nigeria, you come de pursue am,” intervened another sympathizer, a young man in his early thirties.

“Which government? No be them spoil this country? Every year, them go collect tax from us, and them no go use am do better thing than to de buy big big house for oyimbo country and to send their children go school abroad, now where them fire service people? Na when this house done burn finish, na that time you go come see them de blow siren de come like their brother Police people, mumu country Nigeria,” decried another sympathizer.  And it was as if he was a fortuneteller, because the moment he finished talking, siren started sounding at a very close range, and soon, a fire service van appeared on the street with only two firemen and a driver.

According to the first eye-witness I interviewed at the scene, Miss Nkechi, the fire started as a result of minor electric fault at the power changeover of the building.

“their power changeover have problem, so that when NEPA brought light, it sparked and later escalated to fire,” she explained.

The fire service intervention on that very day, could be termed, ‘medicine after death’ because by the time they arrived at the fire accident scene, the entire one-storey building had been consumed by fire, as the residents of the building stood helplessly on the street, watching their properties burn to ashes, and leaving every eye-witness to wonder; why Nigeria’s fire service men and the police always intervened only when the deed is done?