Fire guts Alausa complex, Kuramo shanty settlement

Three was pandemonium yesterday as fire gutted the account department of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Thick smoke was noticed on the ground floor of the three-storey building, housing the Energy Ministry and Lagos Global Office inside the state secretariat complex, Alausa at about 2p.m.

A staff of the ministry who craved anonymity told The Guardian that the fire started from the account department when they began to notice thick and choking smoke in the account room. The source said it happened from a spark immediately power was restored, saying they had to raise the alarm for everybody to evacuate the building urgently to avert disaster.

Another staff said she ran frantically to get downstairs and even forgot her bag in the office. Many other staff abandoned their belongings in the office and fled to safety, while the Lagos State Fire Service was quickly alerted. The fire service came with two truck of water to battle the fire and was able to put it out.

Director, Administrative and Human Resources of the Ministry, Mrs. Fiyintoluwa Ogunbanke said the fire emanated from the internet box in the account department, saying that the internet box was not switched off when power was taken off.

In another development, one month after a raging inferno razed over 100 shanties and killed two people at Kuramo, in Lekki area of Lagos State, a strange fire on Tuesday evening engulfed another stretch of shanty settlements in Kuramo, in the heart of Jakande Ajah.

The fire, which started at about 5p.m. on Tuesday, destroyed a large chunk of the illegal settlement, made up mostly of wood and other highly inflammable materials, leaving many of the locals homeless and stranded.

No life was, however, lost to the incident, with many of the residents claiming that the source of the fire was unknown.

When The Guardian visited the place yesterday, one of the affected resident, Wale Sodeyi, said he returned home to find the entire settlement on fire and was unable to rescue a single item of his property.

Another resident, Peter Omoleye, lamented the nonchalance of rescue officials to come to their plight and reduce the extent of destruction.

“Immediately the fire broke out, we made frantic calls to the fire service people but nobody responded because we are not rich people. They allowed this settlement to burn and didn’t care what happen to our property. That was the same thing that happened last month when two people were burnt to death.