Over 100 Houses Wrecked As Explosion Rocks Kogi Community

Over a hundred houses suffered unfortunate destruction in a recent cooking gas explosion which rocked Jamata, a neighbourhood within the Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Reports obtained by Naija News on Wednesday revealed that the explosion, which occurred today, toppled structures and damaged properties valued at millions of naira.

Upon inspecting the impacted area, the Commissioner for Solid Minerals and Natural Resources in Kogi State, Bashir Abubakar Gegu, expressed sorrow over the damages and encouraged the residents to exercise caution when handling cooking gas.

“I am urging all and sundry to abide by the rules of gas usage. This accident is avoidable, but for negligence and failure to abide by the safety rules of the use of cooking gas, this happened,” the commissioner noted.

He promised the victims of the state government’s prompt and sustained assistance, allowing them to recover and continue with their business operations.

Naija News reports that the news about the Kogi explosion was coming hours after explosions were heard at the Dangote Group refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State.

The cause of the fire outbreak, which happened this morning, could not be immediately ascertained.

However, it was gathered that workers at the Dangote Refinery are currently outside the section affected by the fire. One worker was heard shouting ‘Gas Plenty’.

According to reports, the fire service has arrived at the section of the Dangote refinery affected by the fire.

Reacting to the fire incident in a statement to journalists, Dangote Group’s Chief Branding and Communication Officer, Anthony Chiejina, said the ‘minor’ fire incident at its effluent treatment plant has been contained.

“We have swiftly contained a minor fire incident at our effluent treatment plant (ETP), today, Wednesday, 26th June.

“There is no cause for alarm as the refinery is operating, and there is no recorded injury or body harm to all our staff on duty,” the statement added.

The Dangote refinery is a 650,000 barrels per day capacity plant producing fertiliser, Diesel and Jet A1.