A devastating fire broke out at Ajah Market in the Lekki area of Lagos late Sunday night, destroying several shops and goods worth millions of naira. The fire, which reportedly began near Alesh Bus Stop, engulfed a significant portion of the market, with emergency responders working tirelessly to prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) confirmed the incident on Monday. Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the agency’s Permanent Secretary, provided details of the emergency response. According to Oke-Osanyintolu, the fire was reported through distress calls made to the agency’s toll-free lines, 767 and 112, at approximately 9:30 PM on Sunday. LASEMA’s emergency response team, stationed in Lekki, was immediately activated and dispatched to the scene.
Upon their arrival at the market at 10:10 PM, emergency personnel found that numerous shops, many of which contained highly combustible materials, were already fully engulfed in flames. “Several shops and stores housing combustible materials were engulfed by fire,” Oke-Osanyintolu said in the statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). At the time of the report, the exact cause of the fire had not been determined, and investigations were still ongoing.
Fortunately, despite the severity of the fire, no casualties or injuries were reported. Oke-Osanyintolu expressed relief that there were no fatalities, saying that the prompt response of the emergency teams had helped prevent loss of life. “Fortunately, no casualties or injuries were recorded at the incident scene,” he confirmed.
The fire caused significant damage, with many valuable goods destroyed in the blaze. The LASEMA Permanent Secretary highlighted that, although the destruction was substantial, efforts by both the agency and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service helped prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings. “Properties worth a fortune were destroyed in the inferno,” he said, adding that the quick and coordinated response of emergency teams helped minimize the overall impact.
Throughout the operation, responders faced the added challenge of managing a hostile crowd, as onlookers gathered at the scene. Despite these difficulties, the fire was successfully brought under control. “While fighting the fire, we were simultaneously trying to manage the hostile crowd as the two are the only primary responders at the incident scene,” Oke-Osanyintolu stated, acknowledging the challenging circumstances under which the response took place.
The emergency teams worked relentlessly, and by the time the operation was concluded, the fire had been fully extinguished. “The fire has been successfully extinguished by the emergency responders at the incident scene, and the operation has been concluded,” Oke-Osanyintolu said, providing an update on the completion of the operation.
This latest fire incident in Lagos highlights ongoing concerns about fire safety and preparedness in markets across the city. Despite efforts to improve emergency response times and prevent such disasters, markets like Ajah remain vulnerable due to the large volumes of highly flammable goods stored in close proximity to one another. The authorities are now focused on investigating the root cause of the fire and implementing measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
