Afriland Towers Disaster: How Quickly We Have Moved On

It is quite common in Nigeria to hear people talk about politicians waiting out the storm whenever a bad event occurs, as they are sure that Nigerians cannot seem to stand on business for a long time. And so, over and over again, we have disgraceful and even deadly events occur, and just a few days later, everyone moves on, like it never mattered. But to progress as a nation, we need to be able to learn and enforce lessons to forestall a reoccurrence.

On 16 September 2025, a commercial building in the bustling Lagos caught fire and by the time the smoke cleared, at least 10 persons from different organisations working in the building had been deprived of their lives. However, apart from some public eulogy by people who knew the departed ones, nothing else seems to have happened. One month later, the government (Federal / State / Local) does not seem to have done anything noteworthy with regards to addressing the diabolical wastage of human lives, investigating the causes and implementing new systems to avoid a repeat. Similarly, the affected organisations, at least publicly, have only focused on eulogising their slain employees, with everyone happy to put this unfortunate incident behind them. Afterall, to the average person, why should they bother with forestalling a future incident when the future is not in their hands?

This entrenched failure to learn appears to be a feature of the Nigerian life. However, if we had any interest in becoming better, here are some questions that should be asked.

1. What led to the fire?
2. What fire prevention or mitigation systems existed in the building? If available, did they function as designed?
3. What emergency evacuation systems existed in the building? If available, did they function as designed?
4. When was the last time a fire drill was conducted in the building? Were all residents aware of what to do in a fire incident?
5. What emergency response systems existed in the building? If available, did they function as designed?
6. Could anyone have been saved if emergency medical services were promptly available?
7. How long did it take to inform the fire service of the active fire incident and how long did it take for the first fire truck to arrive at the building? What improvements could be made to the response time?
8. Upon arrival at the building, were there any limitations faced by the fire fighters that impacted their efficiency or effectiveness in taking out the fire? If yes, what could be done to optimise their operations?
9. What lapses in the building led to the unfortunate outcome? Which other buildings in Lagos have similar lapses?
10. If the same incident were to occur today in a similar building, would the outcome be different?

The problem is not that a fire occurred or that people died, but that we seem fine with making no big deal of avoidable loss of lives and properties. Today, the aviation, nuclear and petroleum industries are some of the “safest”, but this safety record came at the cost of lives that were lost in the past and triggered changes to safety practices. This is how we know a society that is interested in becoming better—it commits to continuous improvement, not keeping silent and waiting for the public to move on. The government officials responsible for building inspections, fire safety and related matters, the owners of the Afriland Towers, and the management teams of the affected companies should note that they could have been the ones inside that building at the time of the fire. Maybe if some of them had died, the response could have been different, but we do not have to wait until we are directly affected. These persons owe a duty, either directly or vicariously, to ensure that we do not have another incident like this. And everyday Nigerians and the media also need to bring it up from time to time. Let this not be like the incident of a young doctor whose life was wickedly terminated by a dysfunctional lift and years later the lift is yet to be repaired. At some point we need to take responsibility as a country for the lives of our people. Our current foolishness is unsustainable.

Image Credit: channelstv.com