The Abule-Ado explosion was an accidental explosion and fire that occurred in the Abule-Ado area around

Festac Town Festac Town is a federal housing estate located along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway in Lagos State, Nigeria. Its name is derived from the acronym FESTAC, which stands for Second World African Festival of Arts and Culture that was held there in 197 ...

, Amuwo Odofin

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The explosion and fire started around 9am on Sunday 15 March 2020; the fire was extinguished around 11pm. According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the explosion and fire was caused when a truck rammed into

gas cylinder A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. High-pressure gas cylinders are also called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor ...

s stacked in a gas processing plant near a vandalised

petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas) is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, propylene, butylene, isobutane and n-butane. LPG is used as a fuel gas in HVAC, heating appliances, cookin ...

pipeline. 276,000 people were displaced according to the

Lagos State Government Lagos State Government is the government of Lagos State, concerned with the administration of the state ministries. The government consists of the executive, legislative and Judiciary. The government is headed by the Governor who is the policy-maker ...

. The Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency announced that as at 15 March, 2020 the number of casualties are 23 persons and 25 injured persons with 50 houses destroyed. This includes the students and the facilities at the Bethlehem Girls College, Abule-Ado which was destroyed. The school principal of Bethlehem Girls’ College at Abule Ado area of Lagos, Henrietta Alokha, was killed while trying to save her students from the inferno at the school. The Lagos state government led by

Babajide Sanwo-Olu Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (born 25 June 1968) is a Nigerian politician and the current Governor of Lagos State. He became governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress after contesting and unexpectedly winning the gubernatorial p ...

created a relief fund for the victims of the explosion on 16 March 2020. The funds are marked as a 2 billion

naira The naira (sign: ₦; code: NGN) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the volume ...

emergency fund with the Lagos State Government donating 250 million naira at its inception.

References

2020 disasters in Nigeria 2020 fires in Africa 2020s in Lagos State Explosions in 2020 Explosions in Nigeria Fires in Nigeria March 2020 events in Nigeria Disasters in Lagos State 2020 road incidents in Africa Road incidents in Nigeria Industrial fires and explosions 2020 industrial disasters {{disaster-stub