The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, on Wednesday, disclosed that the Nigerian Army recovered 2,055 unexploded explosive ordnances from the 2002 bomb blast site at the Ikeja Military Cantonment in Lagos, at the end of a clearance operation tagged ‘Exercise Clean Sweep.’
Lagbaja, while speaking at the closing ceremony of the exercise, expressed delight that the exercise ended successfully without any casualty recorded.
The COAS who was represented by the Commander of the Engineer Corps, Maj. Gen. Philip Eromonsele, attributed the success of the exercise to the deployment of sophisticated Explosive Ordnance Disposal technologies and techniques available.
“Exactly 57 days ago, I flagged off this exercise to clear remnants of unexploded ordnances from the site of the January 28, 2002, Ikeja Cantonment Bomb Blast,” the Army chief said.
“Before now, the contaminated site has been a no-go area for inhabitants of the cantonment and its environs as the Unexploded Explosive Ordnance therein posed a grave safety and security threat.
“The blast’s epicentre, measuring 155,275 Square Meters, is now safe and secured for immediate productive development,” he noted.
