A young promising employee of Jumia, a leading on-line shopping store, located on Universal Close/Surulere Road, off Adeniyi-Jones, Ikeja, Lagos, has reportedly died due to excessive heat in the unventilated company warehouse where his job required standing for about 10 hours daily.

News Express enquiries revealed that the victim, identified as Mr Ola Sanusi, died about 13:10 hours on Monday, February 16. “Ola Sanusi stood for 10 hours under high temperature in the warehouse. The workers are subjected to temperature of over 45 degree,” disclosed our source, who pleaded anonymity.

Family sources said that Sanusi, who joined Jumia in March 2013, was planning to wed next month.

It was also gathered that in December 2015, another Jumia employee fell from the heights and died.

All attempts to get Jumia Management to speak on the tragedy proved abortive.

When News Express called at the warehouse, almost the size of a football field, it was gathered that the company, which employs about 500 Nigerians, has neither fans nor air-conditioners, despite the extreme heat in the unventilated store. It is only at the mini-reception, mainly for enquiries, that they have a small standing fan and four seats. But no one was willing to speak to the correspondent whom a security man directed to the corporate head office on 109 Adeniyi-Jones. Here, the female Security/Front Desk Officer who attended to News Express, after going into the office, returned to say that the officer-in-charge was not in, and no one else could speak to the press, not even their lawyer.

Contacted, the National President, National Industrial Safety Council of Nigeria, Dr Reginald Anyanwu, confirmed the incident. He said: “The death rate in Jumia is on the increase. They don’t have Factory Act of 2004; no registration of staff with National Social Insurance Trust Fund, and unionism is not allowed.”