United Bank for Africa has assured customers and the public that its headquarters on Marina, Lagos, was not affected by Tuesday’s fire incident, contrary to reports circulating online.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, the bank confirmed that the fire broke out at Afriland Tower on Broad Street, a six-storey commercial building that houses one of its branches, and not at UBA House, its head office.
“We are aware of the fire incident at a building on Broad Street, Lagos Island, which incidentally houses one of our many branches. As against reports on online and social media, the affected building is not the UBA House, Marina, the bank’s head office. We have ensured the safety and well-being of our staff and customers in the branch,” the statement read.
A senior emergency official who spoke with NAN said the situation was already under control before responders arrived. “By the time responders got there, even the UBA staff had taken care of it. It was more smoke than fire, and it had been quickly contained,” the source explained.
The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service later revealed that the fire started from the inverter room in the basement of the building. Ogabi Olajide, Deputy Controller General of the service, said firefighting teams from Ebute Elefun and Sari Iganmu were dispatched after an emergency call was received at 1:38 p.m.
“The fire originated in the inverter room located in the basement of the building while smoke spread across multiple floors and engulfed the structure. Evacuation of occupants is in progress, while firefighting operations have been concluded, dousing the earlier panic before the arrival of the first responders,” the LSFRS posted on X.
Eyewitnesses said workers and visitors fled the building in panic as smoke spread across the floors. The fire service confirmed that nine victims were rescued, five were revived on the spot, while four others were still being attended to.
As of press time, no deaths had been recorded, but damage assessment was ongoing.
The incident comes just days before the September 19 close date for UBA’s N157 billion rights issue, which is part of its efforts to meet the Central Bank’s recapitalisation directive.
UBA urged the public to rely only on its official communication channels for updates.
