NLC seeks probe into Lagos Island fire tragedies

The Nigeria Labour Congress has called for an independent investigation into the recent infernos that gutted Afriland Towers and parts of Lagos Island, leaving no fewer than six people dead and several others injured.

The demand was contained in a statement signed by the NLC Acting President, Prince Adewale Adeyanju, on Thursday in Abuja.

The labour body said the twin blazes, which claimed lives and destroyed goods worth billions of naira, could not be dismissed as “mere accidents of fate,” but were the result of systemic rot, negligence, and poor enforcement of safety standards.

“Our grief is worsened by the fresh memory of another devastating fire that consumed shops and warehouses in the same axis. These fires are totally not accidents of fate. They are products of systemic rot, institutional negligence, and disregard for safety rules which expose citizens to needless deaths and losses,” the statement read.

The congress described as disheartening the desperate scenes of workers leaping out of windows to escape the Afriland fire, questioning whether safety precautions had been embedded in the building design or if crisis management measures were ever put in place.

“Were there safety precautions in the building design? Were workers trained? Where were crisis management teams?” the NLC queried.

It also expressed concern over recurring market fires in Lagos, describing them as an annual ritual that successive governments had failed to address with adequate safeguards.

“In Lagos, we see the opposite: fires without water, collapsing buildings without rescue, citizens without emergency response. Why do emergency agencies continue to budget billions annually yet arrive unprepared in moments of crisis? Why are corporate institutions allowed to compromise safety standards without accountability?” it added.

The union demanded a thorough probe of the fires, compensation for victims, strict enforcement of workplace safety standards, and proper funding for emergency services.

“No worker should leave home for work and end up in the morgue because of preventable disasters,” it said, warning against reducing tragedies to statistics.

“The blood of the workers cries out for justice,” the statement added.

While commending the National Emergency Management Agency for issuing flood warnings, the NLC urged proactive evacuations and long-term solutions to flooding linked to water releases from Cameroon.

It further called on Nigerians not to normalise tragedies.

“We must demand institutions that work, safety that is guaranteed, and governance that protects, not abandons,” it stressed.