Canada on Tuesday suspended operations in Nigeria’s capital Abuja amid an investigation into a fatal explosion at its embassy in Abuja’s Central Business District area that killed two persons on Monday.
The fire incident also caused damage to a section of the building.
Details regarding the exact cause of the explosion remain scarce but Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly assured that “we are working to shed light on what caused this situation” via a social media post.
We can confirm there was an explosion at our High Commission in Nigeria. The fire is out and we are working to shed light on what caused this situation.
I send my heartfelt condolences to the families of the 2 people killed in this tragedy.
— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) November 6, 2023
Commenting on the development, the High Commission of Canada in Nigeria said the Abuja office is closed “until further notice.”
STATEMENT FROM GLOBAL AFFAIRS CANADA ON THE EXPLOSION AT THE HIGH COMMISSION OF CANADA IN ABUJA pic.twitter.com/EkEAuooKHl
— Canada in Nigeria (@CanHCNigeria) November 7, 2023
The suspension of operations at the Canadian embassy will affect various services, including consular assistance and visa processing for Nigerians seeking to travel to Canada.
Meanwhile, Ottawa joined Washington and London in issuing a warning to Canadians against nonessential travel to Nigeria “due to the unpredictable security situation throughout the country and the significant risk of terrorism, crime, inter-communal clashes, armed attacks and kidnappings.”
Last week, the United States alerted its citizens about “elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s larger cities” while Britain warned about potential terrorist attacks which “can occur without warning” throughout Nigeria.
