A massive fire outbreak has engulfed the old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed international airport. A source close to the terminal said that the fire outbreak started around 3:30pm, but the cause of the inferno could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
The old terminal is currently under reconstruction by the Federal Government. Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and other sister agencies are currently on ground to put out the raging inferno.
A traveler on an AirPeace London-Lagos flight informed Arbiterz “I understand there is fire a Lagos terminal and they are not accepting flights. We have had to come to Abuja.”
The director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Henry Agbebire, confirmed the incident.
Agbebire however said that firefighters from FAAN were currently responding and working to contain the inferno.
He added: “No loss of life has been recorded. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.”
The statement also could not ascertain the cause of the fire outbreak.
A Pattern of Fire Incidents in Nigerian Airports
Fire incidents at Nigerian airports, while relatively infrequent, are not without precedent. In 2013, a significant blaze gutted parts of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport’s international arrivals hall, disrupting operations and drawing attention to aging infrastructure and electrical vulnerabilities within airport facilities. There have also been smaller fire outbreaks over the years at airports in Lagos, Abuja, and Kano, often linked to electrical faults, equipment malfunctions, or renovation activities. These incidents have repeatedly prompted calls for stricter adherence to fire safety protocols, improved maintenance regimes, and accelerated modernisation of terminal infrastructure across the country’s aviation network. The recurrence of such episodes underscores the operational and safety risks associated with legacy facilities undergoing reconstruction or operating beyond their original design capacity.
