On Friday morning, nearly three days after flames tore through Emab Plaza on Lagos Island, smoke still rose from the building’s charred skeleton.
A PREMIUM TIMES reporter, who visited the site on Friday, watched as a bulldozer from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) growled through the wreckage, pulling down unstable walls as traders stood nearby, staring at what remained of their livelihoods.
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The four-storey commercial complex, tucked behind Mandilas building on Taiwo Street, had become a graveyard of fabric, clothes, and shoes — all reduced to ash.
How it began
Floodwaters covered the narrow streets around the plaza on Tuesday. Many traders stayed back in their shops, waiting for the water to recede. Then, around 7:30 p.m., disaster struck.
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“You know there was a Champions League that night, so most people had gone home early,” recalled Ibrahim Ighoho, an eyewitness who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES at the scene on Friday morning.
“But those inside this building stayed back because the water was everywhere. Suddenly, the fourth floor caught fire. People were running, and some fainted. We barely escaped.”
Thick black smoke poured from the upper floor as flames quickly spread through stalls stacked high with flammable goods.
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“It was like chemicals poured from above,” said another witness, Udaeze Raphael, who also spoke to this reporter on Friday morning. “The fire swept down so fast. Nobody even knows if those upstairs made it out.”
By 8:33 p.m., when a Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service truck arrived, the building was already overtaken by flames.
According to a statement by Deputy Controller General Olajide Ogabi, the fire was reported at 7:23 p.m., prompting the immediate dispatch of crews from the Ebute Elefun and Oniru fire stations.
He explained that the blaze started on the fourth floor, though the exact cause remains under investigation.
Despite efforts from multiple agencies — the Federal Fire Service, Lagos Fire Service, LASEMA, and the police — the fire raged late into the night.
Concerns
Officials later confirmed four buildings housing about 200 shops were destroyed. One person suffered smoke inhalation and was hospitalised.
Eyewitnesses at the scene on Friday morning expressed frustration about what comes next. “Compensation? The government does not compensate anyone,” one man, who declined to give his name, told this reporter. “What about Mandilas building? They just seized it.”
Another pointed to the lack of strong traders’ associations to speak up for victims. “Here, everybody is on their own,” he added.
Many tenants had only just renewed their rents, making the losses even harder to bear. For some, the plaza was their sole source of income.
The Emab Plaza fire was not an isolated incident. Hours earlier on Tuesday, another fire broke out at Afriland Tower on Broad Street, forcing workers to evacuate.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that 10 people have been confirmed dead. Nine people were rescued, and five were revived by emergency responders.
Such disasters have become common on Lagos Island, where tightly packed markets, poor drainage, and inadequate fire safety repeatedly turn sparks into infernos. From Balogun to Mandilas, traders have lost billions of naira to market fires over the past decade.
An emergency official, who asked not to be named, told this reporter on Friday that Emab Plaza went up in flames like a tinderbox. “The entire place was stacked with textiles and clothing,” he said, pointing to the smouldering ruins. “Once the fire caught, it spread like a storm. We moved in quickly, but the blaze had already gained too much strength to control.”
Urban planners have long warned that Lagos Island is a ticking time bomb: weak drainage keeps people stranded during floods, while a lack of extinguishers, evacuation routes, and building oversight makes fires deadlier.
Eyewitnesses said it was the flood that kept traders from leaving early. When the fire began, narrow exits turned their escape into chaos.
The bigger picture
Data from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) shows just how frequent such disasters are.
Between January and December 2024 alone, the state recorded 1,675 emergency incidents — 285 of them fire-related.
Also, property losses from fire that year were estimated at N19.52 billion, according to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
At the Lagos International Fire Safety Conference in August, the governor admitted that recurring tanker explosions and market fires remain a significant challenge.
He pledged new safety initiatives, including Safety on the Move, a programme to spread fire-prevention awareness in markets, schools, and factories.
But traders at Emab Plaza say promises mean little. “We hear the same thing after every fire,” one eyewitness told this reporter. “But nothing changes.”
Government provides updates
On Friday, the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, in collaboration with other emergency agencies, held a joint press briefing at the Baguada Khalito Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, to clarify events surrounding the Lagos Island fire outbreaks at Afriland Towers and Emab Plaza.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, conveyed Governor Sanwo-Olu’s condolences to the bereaved families, injured victims, and traders whose goods were lost.
He urged restraint, noting that speculation over the causes of the fires should not overshadow the urgent work of relief and recovery.
Mr Omotosho also pointed out the government’s investments in fire safety, recalling the commissioning of 62 new fire apparatuses in 2022, including aerial ladders designed to tackle high-rise blazes.
The Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, confirmed that the Service received its first distress call at 1:38 p.m. on Tuesday and arrived at the Afriland scene by 1:56 p.m.
She explained that the blaze was contained within the basement, preventing wider destruction, and that fatalities were caused by smoke inhalation rather than direct burns.
The Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Omojola, added that while the affected buildings had fire measures in place, a combination of mechanical failure and human error contributed to the tragedy.
He said over 212 high-rise buildings across the state had been issued safety certificates following inspections, describing the Afriland incident as unusual.
From the medical side, LASAMBUS Director Beatrice Makinde confirmed that most casualties resulted from toxic smoke exposure, with seven fatalities recorded.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Fire guts plaza at Tinubu Square in Lagos
She noted that some victims were treated and discharged, while others, including a survivor who sustained fractures from jumping, were recovering in the hospital.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Gboyega Akosile, said the briefing was meant to dispel rumours and demonstrate transparency in the government’s handling of the incidents.
He assured residents that the state remains committed to safeguarding lives and property.
Picking through ashes
By Friday afternoon, the acrid smell of burnt fabric still hung in the air. Traders, some barefoot in soot, picked through the ruins, hoping to salvage anything. Most found only loss.
“Lagos traders are used to starting over,” said a community leader who identified as Adewale and spoke to this reporter on Friday afternoon as he watched the bulldozer claw through what was left of the plaza. “But how many times can a person rebuild from nothing?”
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