- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded an independent probe into the recent fire outbreak at Afriland Towers and Mandilas market in Lagos Island.
Prince Adewale Adeyanju, the NLC Acting President made the call in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.
NPO Reported the Afriland Towers fire incident which occured on Tuesday had claimed the lives of at least 10 people while several others sustained injuries and remain hospitalised.
The Mandilas market inferno which occurred few hours after Afriland Towers razed four buildings housing 200 shops with millions worth of goods destroyed.
While expressing it’s grievances over the tragic incidents, the NLC maintained that the fire outbreaks were products of systemic rot, institutional negligence,, and disregard for safety rules.
“Our grief is worsened by the fresh memory of another devastating fire that consumed shops and warehouses in the same axis, destroying livelihoods and goods valued in billions of Naira.
“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,” it said.
The Congress said that the sight of workers jumping out of windows to escape the UBA fire was disheartening.
“Were there safety precautions in the building design? Were workers trained? Where were crisis management teams?” the statement asked.
The congress also expressed concern over recurring market fires in Lagos, calling them an annual ritual that should have been addressed with adequate safeguards.
It added that every society was judged by how it safeguarded citizens.
“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 asked.
The NLC, therefore, demanded the investigation of the fires, compensation for victims, mandatory safety enforcement, and adequate funding for emergency services.
“No worker should leave home for work and end up in the morgue because of preventable disasters,” it said.
The NLC also warned against reducing the tragedies to mere statistics.
“The blood of the workers cries out for justice,” the statement said.
The NLC commended NEMA for issuing flood warnings but urged proactive evacuations and long-term solutions to annual flooding linked to water releases from Cameroon.
It called on Nigerians to resist normalising tragedies.
“We must demand institutions that work, safety that is guaranteed, and governance that protects, not abandons,” the NLC stated.