By Joy Essien, Contributing Editor, Lagos Metropolitan
Published September 18, 2025
On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, a devastating fire swept through Afriland Tower, a six-storey commercial building on Broad Street, Lagos Island. The blaze, which reportedly began around 1:30 p.m. in the building’s inverter room, quickly spread upward, filling stairwells and corridors with thick smoke and trapping dozens of office workers.
Lives Lost and Businesses Shattered
Rescue workers from the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, LASEMA, and other emergency agencies battled the inferno for hours. By evening, ten people were confirmed dead—four staff of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and six employees of United Capital Plc. Nine others were pulled out alive, five of them resuscitated at the scene while four remained unconscious when evacuated.
Afriland Tower hosts several blue-chip tenants, including FIRS, United Capital, and a branch of United Bank for Africa (UBA). Although damage assessments are still underway, both lives and livelihoods have been irreparably affected.
Investigations Underway
Preliminary findings point to an electrical fault in the inverter room as the likely source of the fire, but officials stress that a full investigation is ongoing. Afriland Properties, owners of the building, confirmed that “standard safety protocols were in place” but conceded that smoke spread rapidly and complicated evacuation.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu expressed condolences to the bereaved families and pledged tighter enforcement of Lagos State’s building-safety codes. FIRS and United Capital have also released statements mourning their staff and offering support to affected families.
The Business Continuity Gap
This tragedy once again exposes a persistent weakness in Nigeria’s corporate culture: Business Continuity Assessment (BCA). High-rise commercial buildings of this scale should have tested evacuation strategies, functional sprinklers and smoke detectors, clearly marked emergency exits, and staff trained through regular fire drills. In leading global cities, such drills are mandatory and conducted multiple times a year.
Too often here, continuity planning is treated as an optional expense. I recall a company where consultants offered to design a BCA framework, only to be dismissed by management—until disaster struck and the costs dwarfed the price of prevention.
What Must Change
- Mandatory Drills: State fire services and NEMA should conduct routine evacuation drills in all high-rise buildings.
- Equipment and Training: Sprinklers, alarms, smoke detectors, and even simple escape aids such as marine ropes must be installed and maintained.
- Regulatory Enforcement: Lagos authorities must enforce compliance and hold negligent owners or managers accountable.
- Corporate Responsibility: Organisations should budget for continuity planning. A proper BCA may inflate costs today but will save lives, protect assets, and preserve reputations tomorrow.
A Call to Action
The Afriland Tower fire is not just an isolated tragedy; it is a warning. Lives were lost that need not have been. If businesses and regulators act decisively—investing in safety infrastructure, training, and enforcement—future disasters can be averted.
Let this painful moment be the catalyst for a new culture of preparedness. Nigeria must move from reactive sympathy to proactive protection.
Sources: Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service briefings; FIRS and United Capital official statements; reports from Premium Times, Vanguard, Tribune Online, and TVC News (September 2025).
