Lagos Burns While Billions Go Up in Smoke

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On September 16, 2025, Lagos Island became the stage of a grim tragedy. Twin fires ripped through the city’s commercial lifeline, beginning at Afriland Towers on Broad Street before leaping hours later into the belly of Mandilas Market. The first blaze forced United Bank for Africa staffers to leap from high windows, choking on smoke in a building where safety infrastructure appeared absent. The second fire swallowed shop after shop in Mandilas, consuming goods worth hundreds of millions as traders watched helplessly. By midnight, flames were still raging, and the air was filled with both smoke and a familiar bitterness: the haunting sense that all of this could have been prevented.

The official line will no doubt describe a brave firefighting effort. But procurement records tell a darker story. Public contracts worth hundreds of millions have already been awarded in the name of fire safety. In December 2022, Messrs. Boxgrove Limited secured nearly ₦248 million to construct a modern workshop for the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service headquarters. Around the same time, Messrs. Ecoserve FMC Limited was handed ₦173 million to supply personal protective equipment and clothing for firefighters. Smaller contracts, too, were scattered across vendors for fireproof cabinets and related fittings. These are not rumours. They are published government records, verified and signed.

And yet, when Afriland burned, there was no evidence of a modern, functioning system that justified those allocations. When Mandilas ignited, there was no sign of well-equipped, fast-moving units backed by the equipment supposedly purchased. Traders testified that hydrants were dry, trucks arrived late, and many of the vaunted vehicles paraded in past ceremonies were nowhere to be seen. If these contracts were executed, then where are the results? If they were not, why has no one been held accountable?

The chain of responsibility is clear. Margaret Adeseye, head of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, presides over the very agency that should have delivered readiness. The Lagos State Public Procurement Agency oversaw and published the awards to Boxgrove and Ecoserve. The Ministry of Special Duties and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration signed off on these promises to the people. And while these names sit in the pages of official documents, the names that echo in Mandilas today are different — Chidi Nwankwo, who lost two shops of electronics; Aisha Suleiman, whose family’s textile business lies in ashes; Grace Nwachukwu, uninsured, who has nothing left but smoke-stained memories.

What burns in Lagos is not just property. It is trust. It is the credibility of institutions that claim to prepare but fail to deliver. It is the illusion that flashy contract announcements equate to safety. Until audits confirm what was built, until independent inspectors verify what equipment was delivered, and until Lagosians can see a fire service that responds with speed and competence, every naira awarded remains an open wound. The city does not lack budgets. It lacks honesty, transparency, and the political will to defend its people from preventable disasters.