On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, tragedy struck on Broad Street, Lagos Island, when a fire outbreak engulfed Afriland Towers, a six-storey commercial building. The incident claimed the lives of at least ten occupants, once again highlighting the persistent weaknesses in Nigeria’s urban fire safety system.
Although standard safety briefings advise occupants to avoid elevators and use stairways to evacuate during fire outbreaks, this instruction often proves fatal in Nigeria’s multi-storey buildings. Stairways, designed to be escape routes, quickly become smoke-filled death traps, preventing occupants from reaching muster points alive. The Afriland Towers fire is not the first such incident, and it will not be the last—unless decisive action is taken.
The Hidden Danger of Stairways in Fire Emergencies
Globally, stairways are considered the safest route during fires because elevators are prone to power failure and can trap occupants. However, the Nigerian reality is starkly different. Most staircases in high-rise buildings are not designed to resist smoke infiltration. Once smoke spreads into stairwells, visibility plummets, oxygen depletes, and carbon monoxide levels soar.
The result? Occupants attempting to obey evacuation protocols often collapse before they can exit. The Afriland Towers tragedy underscores this grim truth: it is not the flames alone that kill—it is the smoke.
Key Challenges in Nigeria’s Fire Safety Readiness
Several systemic gaps make multi-storey buildings particularly unsafe during fire outbreaks:
- Limited Firefighting Equipment
Nigeria’s firefighting agencies lack the modern tools needed to respond effectively to high-rise fires. Long-range firefighting trucks, aerial drones for rapid response, and helicopters for rooftop rescues are almost non-existent. - Weak Building Code Enforcement
Many commercial and residential towers are constructed without strict adherence to international fire safety standards. Evacuation routes are either inadequate or poorly maintained. - Low Awareness and Training
Few tenants or office workers participate in evacuation drills. In emergencies, panic, misinformation, and lack of coordination increase casualties.
External Stairways: A Practical Life-Saving Solution
One simple yet effective solution is the integration of external stairways into multi-storey building designs. Unlike internal stairwells, which can quickly fill with smoke, external staircases remain open to fresh air, enabling occupants to escape with minimal exposure to toxic fumes.
In many developed countries, especially in older cityscapes like New York, external fire escapes are standard features of high-rise structures. These staircases provide an alternate, independent exit system that drastically improves survival rates.
In Nigeria, adopting this design standard could transform building safety. Developers should be mandated to integrate steel-framed external staircases at strategic points, ensuring redundancy in evacuation options.
Other Safety Enhancements to Consider
While external stairways would be a game-changer, they must be complemented with additional safety measures:
- Pressurized Stairwells: For internal staircases, pressurization systems prevent smoke from seeping in, creating a safe channel for escape.
- Automated Fire Suppression Systems: Sprinklers and smoke detectors, when strategically installed, can delay the spread of fire and smoke.
- Dedicated Muster Points: Clearly signposted safe zones where occupants can gather after evacuation.
- Regular Drills and Training: Occupants must practice evacuation procedures at least twice a year to ensure familiarity and readiness.
A Call to Action for Regulators and Developers
The Afriland Towers fire should serve as a wake-up call. Nigeria can no longer afford complacency in matters of fire safety:
- Government must urgently review and update building codes, making external stairways mandatory for new and existing high-rises.
- Developers must prioritize safety over profit by integrating fire-proof design features, including external escapes.
- Corporate tenants and residents must demand accountability, refusing to occupy buildings that fail to meet basic fire safety standards.
Conclusion
Fire outbreaks may not always be preventable, but deaths from them are. The Afriland Towers tragedy is a painful reminder of what is at stake when safety is neglected. By embracing external stairways, improving firefighting infrastructure, and enforcing building codes, Nigeria can ensure that stairways remain paths to life—not smoke-filled corridors to death.
The time to act is now. Every life lost in future building fires will be a direct consequence of our failure to learn from this moment.
Engr. Ugochukwu Egerue writes from Abuja
