Goods worth several millions of naira were completely destroyed early Tuesday when a fierce fire engulfed a one-storey commercial building on Somoye Osundairo Street in the bustling Computer Village area of Ikeja, Lagos State.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) reported that the blaze erupted around 1:55 a.m., prompting an immediate activation of the state’s emergency response system from its Command and Control Centre in Alausa.
Upon arrival, the LASEMA Response Team found the building occupied by dealers in computers and related accessories already consumed by heavy flames and thick smoke.
“Upon arrival of the LASEMA Response Team at the incident scene, it was observed that a fire outbreak had occurred in a one-storey commercial building housing dealers in computers and accessories at Computer Village, Ikeja,” the agency stated in a Tuesday morning release.
The presence of highly combustible materials fueled the rapid spread of the inferno, with the entire upper floor gutted and all stored goods and property reduced to ashes.
“All goods and properties worth millions of naira stored in the affected section were totally destroyed by the conflagration,” LASEMA stated.
No lives were lost in the incident, though a few firefighters sustained minor injuries during the grueling operation. The cause of the fire remains unknown and is under active investigation.
LASEMA conducted an immediate risk evaluation, secured the perimeter, and coordinated a multi-agency response involving the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), and the Nigeria Police Force. Their swift action prevented the blaze from spreading to adjacent structures.
Firefighting efforts eventually brought the fire under control, confining it to the affected building, with damping-down operations continuing to eliminate the risk of re-ignition.
The building itself suffered partial structural compromise and will undergo a thorough safety assessment before any decisions on its future use. Traders in the iconic Computer Village, a major hub for electronics in Nigeria now face significant losses amid ongoing recovery efforts.
