…Seeks adequate compensation for victims
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for a thorough investigation into the Afriland house, Lagos, fire disaster that claimed six lives.
The NLC attributed the fire to negligence and poor infrastructure maintenance, while also blaming government institutions for failing to provide adequate safety measures to save lives and properties during such incidents
In a statement signed by Adewale Adeyanju, Acting President of the NLC, called for “Immediate and independent investigation into the UBA building fire and the Lagos Island shops, buildings and Warehouses inferno.
The labour Union also demanded for public disclosure of findings and accountability for all those whose negligence or complicity enabled the tragedies.
The organisation also called for the “strengthening of fire services and emergency response agencies at federal, state, and local levels, equipped with modern tools, trained personnel, and adequate funding transparently managed.”
The NLC lamented the reoccurring fire outbreaks, especially within the Lagos Island metropolis and insisted on ” mandatory enforcement of workplace and public safety standards in all corporate and commercial buildings, with stiff penalties for violations.”
The Union also called on the government to ensure adequate compensation for all victims and families of these tragedies, including medical care for the injured and support for traders and workers who have lost livelihoods.
” We demand a movement away from profit-over-people governance to a human-centred development model where the safety, welfare, and dignity of Nigerians take precedence over the greed of the few.
” Let us move to a place where the insane pursuit of IGR is made secondary while ensuring that the lives and means of livelihood of the majority are protected takes a strong primary position.”
The NLC described the tragic fire outbreak that engulfed the United Bank for Africa (UBA) building, called Afriland Building on Lagos Island, as ” avoidable”
This is even as they noted that the loss of lives of at least six compatriots and other injuries suffered by staff and visitors at the building as ” needless”
“These fires are totally not accidents of fate. They are products of systemic rot, institutional negligence, and the reckless disregard for safety rules and human dignity that have become the hallmark of governance in Nigeria. What we are witnessing is not merely fire; it is the fire of corruption, the fire of inefficiency, the fire of collapsed institutions, and the fire of state abandonment of its fundamental duty; the protection of lives and property”
The NLC also wondered if there was any significant safety precautions in designing and managing the building and whether the workers were adequately trained and prepared for such eventualities while whether internal Crisis Management teams were put in place to act as first responders to such incidents before it occurred.”
They decried a situation where the lives of workers are disregarded in pursuit of corporate profits, to the neglects of basic safety precautions for workers.
