The President, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina in Abuja on Thursday, also extended the sympathy of the government to the large community of Lebanese in Nigeria.

The Nigerian leader prayed that God would rest the souls of the dead, comfort the grieving, and grant succour to the wounded and displaced.

He described the explosions, suspected to be caused by tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse, as “tragedy of monumental proportions”.

Buhari pledged the solidarity and brotherhood of Nigeria to Lebanon at this period of