On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, many of us watched with horror as videos emerged of occupants of the Afriland Property housing UBA on Broad Street, Lagos, breaking windows and jumping out in a desperate attempt to escape the heavy smoke filling the building.

We are relieved and thankful to hear that emergency responders arrived promptly and that, despite the chaos, no fatalities seem to have been recorded. Early reports suggest that the smoke originated from a fire involving inverter installations within the building.

As the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISafetyE), we are deeply concerned about this incident and wish to draw urgent attention to key safety issues:

Fire Safety in High-Rise Buildings It is tragic that people felt compelled to escape through broken windows—either because they were unaware of fire escapes or did not know the emergency routes. This underscores the critical need for regular safety drills, clear signage, and public awareness on evacuation procedures.

We also emphasize the need for properly designed and accessible escape staircases in all high-rise buildings, as well as compliance with fire codes that make such escape routes mandatory.

Building Systems Safety Audits We call on the relevant regulators to go beyond reactive inspections and conduct regular building systems safety audits. These audits should check not only for fire readiness, but also for the adequacy of power, ventilation, and emergency escape systems in high-occupancy buildings.

Inverter and Battery Safety Hazards With the rapid growth of high-rise facilities and data centres, many are increasingly fitted with large indoor inverter banks. However, the safety risks of lithium battery installations are not always fully appreciated.

Lithium batteries are prone to heat build-up under certain conditions:

• Inadequate cooling and ventilation

• Poor material selection during design

• Overloading or improper handling

• Substandard or unsafe installation practices

These factors can lead to overheating, thermal runaway, and in extreme cases, fire outbreaks. As inverter installations increase in number and scale, these hazards may become more common if left unaddressed. Unfortunately, lithium battery fires cannot be fought by the fire extinguishers most are accustomed to and this can become a major issue.

Our Call to Action

• Regulators should establish clear, enforceable standards for inverter installations and make building systems safety audits mandatory.
• Building developers and owners should prioritize proper escape stairs and evacuation routes in building designs and operations.
• The Nigerian public should always engage competent and qualified engineers for inverter installations and demand visible safety provisions where they live or work.

This incident must serve as a wake-up call. Fire safety in our modern, inverter-powered buildings is not optional—it is an urgent necessity.

Engr. Oluseun Faluyi, FNSE, FNISafetyE, FNIMechE
National Chairman
Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISafetyE)