Story

A pipeline explosion in Lagos, Nigeria, rocked the city to its core. 23 people were killed, and a girls’ boarding school totally destroyed.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the country’s state-owned oil firm, said the blast in March occurred as a result of a truck that hit gas cylinders near one of its petroleum pipelines.

But BBC Africa Eye’s investigation indicates this explanation for the cause of the blast, that decimated over 100,000 square metres of the city, is wrong.

Misc

• The investigation received an Amnesty Media Award.
  “The team used cutting-edge open-source investigation methods, creating a three-dimensional geospatial model onto which they mapped mobile video, eyewitness testimonies, street view photography, and satellite imagery. The technological innovation was deployed not as a gimmick but to tell a major story in a simple and powerful way.”

• It also received a DIG Award, “Investigative Medium” category:
  “Using innovative methods, the team could reveal the official lie behind the explosion in Lagos, Nigeria, in March 2020 that killed 23 people. This cutting-edge open-source investigation also holds power to account. Combined with solid storytelling, it conveys what the Nigerians have to endure.”