A BBC Africa Eye investigation
has exposed the cause of the explosion which occurred at Abule Ado in Amuwo Odofin
local government area of Lagos state.
In March, about 23 people were
killed and more than 50 houses were destroyed when a massive explosion hit the
area.
Among those who lost their lives
were a family of four and Henrietta Alokha, an administrator at Bethlehem Girls
High School, a Catholic-owned school where at least 60 students sustained
injuries from the incident.
The Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) had attributed the explosion to gas cylinders hit by a truck
in the area where NNPC has its pipelines.
But in a 17-minute forensic
investigation released on Monday, BBC Africa Eye faulted NNPC’s explanation on
the cause of the blast that decimated over 100,000 square metres of the city.
The video documentary showed how
a leak of vapourised flammable liquid from an NNPC pipeline ignited and caused
the explosion.
New video evidence filmed at the
explosion site, five minutes before the blast, shows a catastrophic leak of
vaporised liquid at the exact location where the NNPC high-pressure petroleum
pipeline runs beneath the ground through that area.
The BBC found there was no gas
processing plant at the explosion’s epicentre. Moreover, analysis of gas
cylinders found at the site after the blast indicates they could not have been
at the centre of the explosion when it happened.
The investigation revealed that
the NNPC pipeline was not maintained and protected.
When the BBC approached NNPC with
its findings, the agency again denied complicity and maintained its earlier
stand that a truck hit gas cylinders at an LPG shop.
The NNPC had said the pipelines
are strictly compliant with safety and regulatory guidelines, insisting that
there was no leakage prior to the explosion.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of
Lagos state, had announced that a N2 billion relief fund had been set up for
victims of the explosion.
He also announced that a
committee had been set up to investigate the explosion.
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