Goods Worth Over ₦‎300 Million Burnt to Ashes In Anambra Market
A call for help as a section of the popular Nkpor main market in Idemili North Local
Government Area of Anambra state, close to the commercial city of Onitsha
was razed down by fire as traders count their losses,
following the sad incident.
According to sources, fire sparked
off at about 2 a.m. in the early hours of Wednesday and brought down over 30 shops
before the traders could mobilize themselves and put it off at
dawn as no fire service was handy.
In a confirmatory state issued by the Chairman of the market traders association in person of Chief
Paul Okafor to newsmen in his office on Wednesday, He regrettably state that in the early hours of the morning that the
fire exploded from a cold room shop and spread to other nearby shops.
Okafor
whose own wine shop was also among the shops destroyed in disastrous turn of event by the inferno, said the fire
affected shops loaded with paints, curtains, gum, shoe leathers, shoe
polish, wines, hot drinks, thinners, among others. In addition, he stated that although
as at present the final estimate of the total goods damaged have
not been determined, a rough sketch showed that the value of burnt goods
would not be less than N300 million.
He lamented how the community had to mobilise to put out the fire despite calls to the relevant institutions.
On that note, he reiterated the need for the state government to station some fire fighter
vehicles under the flyover bridge at Nkpor main market to serve the
three major markets within the vicinity, including New Auto Spare Parts
Market, Mercedes Benz Lorry Okd Spare Parts Market, New Tyre Market and
the Main market in any fire incident.
He also called on the
state and Idemili North local governments and pblic spirited individuals
and groups to come to the aid of the affected traders in order to
bounce back to business as soon as possible.
Sympathizing with
the traders, a patron of Anambra Markets Amalgamated Traders
Association, ASMATA and President of Building Materials Traders
Association, Chief Jude Nwankwo, expressed his heart felt sympathy for
the victims, also called on government and individuals and groups to
assist the victims.
Nwankwo suggested that market leaders
should provide fire extinguishers in their various markets to mitigate
the effects of fire disasters particularly at nights, using their night
guards to operated the fire extinguishers if fire broke out at nights,
while waiting for fire service men.
