The lack of rapid response to emergencies due to inadequate equipment for rescue operations and a dearth of resources has led to needless loss of lives and property across the country. BERTRAM NWANNEKANMA, ADEWALE MOMOH, MICHAEL EGBEJULE, ROTIMI AGBOLUAJE, and SOLOMON AZU report that improved budgetary allocation to emergency agencies could stem the tide.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at about a few minutes after 6:00 p.m., when many workers, business persons, and residents were retiring home, a loud bang, which could be heard as far as Mararaba broke out on Karu Bridge, a landmark on the busy Abuja-Keffi Expressway, just before Nyanya, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on the highway to Nasarawa State.

Most of those on the road then were residents of the Nyanya axis or the adjoining Mararaba, New Nyanya, Masaka, and Ado, all in Nasarawa State.

While everyone from Karu Bridge to Mararaba – a town about five kilometres from Karu Bridge was startled by the sound, the residents and many others mistook it to have originated from a military facility- the Abacha Cantonment, not so far from Karu Bridge.

However, by the time the dust settled, about 15 persons had been burnt to death. At the same time, many more were heavily injured, and several vehicles were destroyed in the inferno, which broke out after a fully loaded tanker lost control due to brake failure, ploughed into multiple vehicles and set off a catastrophic chain of explosions.

Sources said that the fire quickly spread to other vehicles driving right behind the tanker, as there was no room to make U-turns on the choked highway. In minutes, occupants of these vehicles were screaming for help even as the fire engulfed and burnt many to death.

“It was a gory sight, which I will never wish even for my enemy! People in the vehicles were screaming for help, which could not get to them because of the huge tongues of flame. All we could do was watch helplessly as nobody dared go near the scene for fear of being instantly roasted. The fire was that big.
“Because the cars behind the tanker were also speeding, they rammed into each other as the inferno spread. I’ve never seen anything like this,” a witness recalled.

According to another eyewitness, if the country had an effective emergency response system in place, the high rate of casualties during crises like these could have been minimised.

It was a similar case of poor emergency response that led to the death of a mother and her two children in Ondo State, on February 16, 2025, about 459 kilometres away from the scene of the Karu Bridge incident.

In the incident, which residents of Rainbow Street, Onipakala Junction, off Adeyemi Road, in the Headquarters of Ondo West Local Council have now tagged “Black Sunday,” the middle-aged mother and her two children, identified as Bukola and Ife, were burnt beyond recognition in an inferno that lasted for hours after operatives of the state fire service failed to mobilise to the scene.

A neighbour, Margaret, said that the deceased were trapped in their apartment while the fire, the source of which could not be ascertained, engulfed their apartment.

“Sadly, we could not rescue them as the fire, which lasted for hours destroyed the entire building where they were trapped.”

The chairman of the landlord association on the street, Mr Adegbulu, said firefighters in the town failed to show up due to a lack of water and fire suppressants.

On January 22, 2024, that is a few weeks before the Ondo Town incident, a couple also lost their two children to an inferno that engulfed their apartment situated on Church Street, Oluwatuyi Quarters, Akure, the Ondo State capital.

According to sources, the fire had already engulfed a large part of the apartment before neighbours knew that the children were inside the apartment. The late arrival of the firefighters from the Federal Fire Service also did not help matters.

The father of the deceased children, who was unable to fathom the tragedy, collapsed at the scene and was rushed to the hospital.

Many residents of Ondo State believe that regular tragedies befalling the state could have been minimised if the state fire service had not been ineffectual.

Ugly scenarios like these are not limited to Ondo State, as across the country, a dearth of critical rescue equipment has negatively impacted rescue operations in different parts of the country, thereby resulting in needless loss of lives and property in emergency situations.

The tragic death of 200 people at a tanker explosion in Taura Local Council of Jigawa State, in October 2024, also highlights the importance of critical equipment in rescue operations, especially at night.

In Edo State, residents are also lost for words over the slow pace of the government’s response to emergencies and disasters. This explains why they want the state government to step up efforts towards addressing humanitarian crises.

According to them, the ravaging effects of disasters, including flooding, fire outbreaks, and rainstorms, have continued to concern victims with unquantified losses and damages being recorded.

A retiree, Mr Ehon Godfrey, is deeply worried about the slow response to emergency cases in the state, stressing that it is not encouraging and remains a disservice to the people of the state.

While emergency agencies like the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) have performed creditably well over the years, inadequate manpower, lack of equipment and low budgetary allocations have hampered their smooth operations.

The Guardian gathered that some equipment procured during the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola have now gone obsolete, and can do little or nothing because the spare parts are no longer available.

The Chairman of the Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Dr Rauf Age-Sulaimon, in a recent chat, said: “There is only one crane that is functioning at the moment; only one in the entire Lagos State.

“I learnt that LASEMA is now partnering with companies to borrow equipment, which is not dependable. Some equipment in LASEMA are almost 12 years old. In that light, I will try to ensure that a reasonable amount is set aside for cases like this in the next budget so that LASEMA can improve its response time.”

Also speaking during Age-Sulaimon’s visit to the agency, the Permanent Secretary, LASEMA, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, identified paucity of funds and obsolete equipment as some of the agency’s challenges, which need urgent attention, in addition to more training opportunities for its staff.

Oke-Osanyintolu, however, emphasised that the agency is doing its best amid prevailing circumstances.

Edo State may not be doing too well in emergency management, but its 2025 budgetary allocation reflects that the government is committed to addressing humanitarian crises following improvements in the budget allocation to the sector from the previous administration.

A careful study of the Ministry of Youth and Humanitarian Affairs budgetary allocation under, which the Edo State Emergency Management Agency  (SEMA) is domiciled, confirmed the improved funding from N10 billion against N3.1 billion in the 2024 revised budget.

An Edo State-based public affairs analyst, Tony Abolo, expressed dismay with the poor response to emergency situations that the Edo people have had to endure.

He noted that emergency services in the state require a more robust investment than what the government is committing to the humanitarian sector.

While Edo State appears to be slightly better than others in terms of budgetary provisions, the situation is not so encouraging in many states.

For instance, in the 2025 fiscal year, Oyo State’s budget for emergency agencies stood at a mere N5 billion out of which N4 billion is for capital expenditure.

The Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde, on Fire Service Reform and Chairman, Oyo State Fire Service Agency, Dr Adebayo Moroof Akinwande, said that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Fire Service handled most disasters and emergencies in the state.

In Cross River State, about N3 billion was budgeted for both personnel cost and capital expenditure in the state’s bid to take care of emergencies.

The Guardian learnt that the state is challenged by a lack of adequately trained manpower, and logistics especially operational vehicles, and communication gadgets among others.

It was further learnt that the state’s Fire and Rescue Service, which is part of the state emergency management team has been moribund for some years now due to inadequate manpower and obsolete equipment.

But the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Antigha Etim Gill, said that the budgeted amount would help the agency to tackle emergencies in the state, including natural inferno disasters, and the procurement of motorised boats for field operations to enhance rescue operations and easy access of riverine communities in the state.

In Ondo State, checks by The Guardian revealed that about N9.4 million was allocated to the Ondo State Fire Service in the 2025 approved budget amid calls for a total overhaul of the state fire service, which still makes use of equipment procured during the era of Governor Adekunle Ajasin.

Bidemi Akinyose, a victim of a fire incident that occurred at a filling station in Akure, a few months ago described the state fire service’s approach to disaster management as worrisome.

“The way things are in Ondo State, people prefer to call on the Federal Fire Service rather than the state fire service because most of the time when there is a fire disaster, personnel of the Federal Fire Service, who are stationed at the Akure Airport, and Federal Secretariat, Igbarotoro Road, Akure will arrive faster than their state counterparts that are situated in Alagbaka, in the heart of Akure. Even when the state fire service eventually comes around, they are more likely to show up without enough water, just like I experienced at a filling a few months ago when an angry mob almost descended on them after the filling station got burnt to the ground.

“Recently, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa released firefighting trucks to the state fire service shortly after a woman and her children died in a fire incident in Ondo Town,” he said.

A retired Assistant Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Bille David Urbanus, lamented that the response time and coordination are always hectic.

According to him: “Considering what is happening in other nations, where they are more proactive, we need to sit up and operate proactively. We shouldn’t wait until something happens before we start mobilising. In the advanced world, emergency experts are more organised, mobilised, and always anticipating the next rounds of emergencies. But we don’t do that here, so we need to change our ways as far as emergency operations are concerned. Our policymakers need to go back to the drawing board and see what they can do regarding our poor response time.”