While Lagos is still dealing with the Ikoyi building collapse that has claimed at least 10 lives, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has raised an alarm following a report of a gas pipeline leakage in some parts of Ikeja, the state capital.
The affected areas include Computer Village, Ikeja Under-bridge end of Awolowo Way, Oba Akran axis, Anifowose Street, and Medical Road.
The spokesperson for NEMA (South West), Ibrahim Farinloye, in a statement on Wednesday, asked residents to avoid open fire in the affected areas in order to avoid any fire outbreak.
He said:
“Residents around Computer Village, Underbridge Awolowo Way, and Oba Akran axis, Anifowose Street, Medical Road must not open shops or use open naked fire for safety reasons.
“Distressed alert just received indicates massive leakage of gas pipeline around these areas.”
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Residents are advised to take safety precautions to prevent any form of disaster.
In March 2020, an explosion at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline killed at least 15 people in the Amuwo Odofin area of the state.
A spokesperson for NEMA, at that time, said the resulting fire has destroyed at least 100 buildings.
The facility is operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It said the fire started when a truck crashed into gas containers stacked in a gas processing plant nearby.
A spokesperson of the NNPC said that the damage from the explosion led to “the collapse of nearby houses and damage to a pipeline” elsewhere in the Lagos facility. The facility immediately stopped pumping on the Atlas Cove-Mosimi pipeline.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, had tweeted that the fire was out at 11:30 pm on the same day. Although the NNPC teams attempted to repair the pipeline, the fire reignited at 5:10 am, March 9, 2020.
In a statement that followed the incident, the NNPC said:
“While assuring members of the public and residents of the affected communities to remain calm, [we] assure that the temporary shutdown of the petroleum products pipeline would not affect the normal supply of products to the Lagos and its environs.”
