Emergency services are responding to a major fire at the Great Nigeria Insurance House, a 22-storey commercial plaza on Martins Street in Lagos Island. The blaze began around 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The building, which houses clothing warehouses, corporate offices, and shops, saw the fire originate on one of its upper floors. Officials provided slightly differing accounts of its spread. According to Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the fire started on the fourth floor before escalating upward to the sixth floor.
However, Margaret Adeseye, Controller-General of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, stated the fire affected up to the fifth floor and originated from that level before spreading downward.
Rescue and firefighting operations were ongoing at the time of reporting. Both agencies confirmed that no casualties had been recorded so far, though a full assessment could not be made until the situation was under control.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.
Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.
He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.
Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).
He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.
He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.
Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled: Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.
