Some residents of Abule Ado in Amuwo-Odofin LGA of Lagos State, have lamented over the ravaging effects of the oil pipeline explosion which occurred on Sunday morning.

The explosion which occurred at about 9.00 a.m. on Sunday morning killed at least 17 people and destroyed more than 70 buildings including schools, churches, hotels and warehouses, Femi Oke-Osayintolu, Director-General of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said.

The Bethlehem Girls School, owned by the Catholic Church, were among buildings reduced to rubbles as couple and a Catholic reverend sister were among those feared dead.

Reacting, Chief Solomon Ogbonna, the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo in Lagos State, called on the state government to conduct a thorough investigation into the explosion.

“The government must immediately do all that is necessary to avert a reoccurrence.

“I am calling on the Lagos State Government to investigate this and not dismiss it as a mere gas explosion.

“The damage is huge,’’ Ogbonna said.

One of the residents, Mr Japheth Okafor, told the NAN that he narrowly death from the explosion.

He said that an alarm raises by his boss alerted him and others to escape through a window.

“Before the explosion, the sky changed to white and we started perceiving gas odour; few minutes after, there was an explosion.

“My boss screamed and asked us to jump through the window.

“That was how we escaped this morning,’’ Okafor said.

The impact of the explosion was felt kilometres away in Lagos as windows , doors of houses were shattered.

Meanwhile, Mr Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, blamed the fire on gas leakage from activities around an oil pipeline.