Hundreds of residents of Igando-Ikotun Road, Omoboriowo Street, around Pipeline bus stop, Lagos, and its surroundings escaped death on Friday, August 27, 2021, as an unprecedented fuel flood temporarily displaced the residents in the middle of the night.

According to respondents interviewed by City Round, a local Nigerian daily, the catastrophic incident was due to suspected vandalism on Atlas Cove-Mosimi System 2B Pipeline channel at around 1 am, sending heavy fuel flow flooding drainage channels and houses, forcing the residents of the affected area to flee miles away to escape danger.

The fuel flood spread to the neighbouring locations, including New Garage Ikotun Junction, Old Garage at Ikotun Junction, Ikotun Market, as well as Igando Local Council Development Area. However, the vandalized pipeline was fixed hours later, stopping further spillage.

Due to a high risk of a fire breakout, the city authorities restricted the use of vehicles and other automobiles, leaving the travellers stranded, with trekking miles away being their option. The emergency response team warned the residence to avoid any open flame that could set the affected residential areas in a conflagration. Friday market activities were also halted as a precautionary measure to avert any unforeseeable fire tragedy.

The unfortunate spillage took hours of combined multi-agency efforts by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Lagos State Fire Service, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, National Emergency Management Agency, and Nigeria security forces to restore normalcy.

In a situation report by Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the LASEMA General Manager, the agency’s preliminary investigation suggested the catastrophic spillage was caused by pipeline vandalism as well as illegal bunkering. Despite the imminent danger caused by fuel spillage around residential areas, one of the residents said the illegal activity has been happening in their community for quite some time,  with the latest being in July 2021.

“It has constantly been happening in this community since last year. There was a time the vandals abandoned their tankers and pumping machines at a spot and ran away. One happened just last month,” said Rafiu.