Senate mourns victims of Lagos gas explosion

By Musa Baba Adamu

Senate on Wednesday mourned the victims of gas explosion which occurred at Ladipo area of Mushin local government in Lagos State.

This was following a point of order raised by Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC, Lagos West).

Relying on Order 43 – Personal Explanation – Adeola in a motion, explained the urgent need to investigate the gas explosion which resulted in loss of lives and properties.

He recalled that in the early hours of Tuesday, November 16th, 2021 around 8.30am, a gas explosion occurred at a domestic Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) sale point at 21, Ojekunle Street in the Ladipo Spare Parts Market area in Mushin, Lagos State.

According to him, “the explosion caused no fewer than 5 deaths comprising of three adult male, a woman and a 10-year-old boy who died in the hospital before medical attention could be rendered while 10 people were rescued and treated on the spot for injuries according to emergency agencies that promptly responded to the inferno.

“Informed that the explosion, suspected to have been caused by fire close by gas cylinders at the sale point leading to deaths and destruction of properties including six (6) lock up shops, ten (10) houses, vehicles and motorcycles in the vicinity of the blast at the sale LPG sale point;

“Aware that there has been a recurrence of similar explosions in recent times in the same area in my senatorial district as happened in 2016, 2018 (Abule-Egba), 2019 (Abule – Egba) 2020 (ljegun), and 2020 (lle-Epo, Oke-Odo), 2020(Abule Ado);

“Worried that Nigerians resident in all the densely populated areas where these explosions occurred now live in fear of not only losing properties and investment but their lives or those of loved ones from these frequent explosive fire disasters.”

The lawmaker commended officers and men of NEMA, LASEMA and Lagos State Fire Service for their prompt roles in putting out the inferno resulting from the explosion and mitigating its spread as well as rescuing victims of the explosion.

He also called on the Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream and Gas to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the explosion.

Adeola urged the National Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to immediately send relief materials to affected victims and offset medical bills of those hospitalized.

Meanwhile, the Senate also on Wednesday passed three bills for concurrence.

The bills are FCT Area Courts Bill, 2021; Defence Research and Development Bureau Bill, 2021; and Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (Est.) Bill, 2021.

The bills were sponsored by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi.