Traders at the popular ‘Better Life Market’ at Ijora-Badia area of Lagos State yesterday recounted their losses in the fire outbreak which destroyed 109 shops on Sunday.
The fire, believed to have been caused by power surge, according to the residents of the area, occurred after the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) restored power supply in the market. This led to a spark and before people knew what was happening, the fire spread to other shops.
A trader in the market, Mr Samson Oyewole, said the fire incident took everybody by surprise. He said: “We were all in the market on Saturday and left for home after the day’s trading.
Around 4am on Sunday, I received a phone call from a friend who lives close to the market that our market was on fire. “To my surprise, when I got to the market, everything had been burnt to ashes.
No goods in the shops were spared. I tried to evacuate some of my wares in the shop, but I couldn’t enter due to the inferno.” Another trader, who gave his name as Mike, said he had developed hypertension owing to the magnitude of his loss. He said: “I just stocked my shop on Saturday with palm oil; I got the money I used for the business through a bank loan. How do I refund the money when everything I had laboured for had gone up in flames? “I have three children and siblings whom I used to sponsor in school.
Where do I get the money to carter for them? I urge the Lagos State Government to come to our aid. “Those of us selling palm oil in the market were the most affected by the inferno, although those selling clothes and other items also lost goods.”
Mrs Tope Jimoh, whose shop was also burnt, insisted that bad roads leading to the market made it difficult for firefighters to arrest the fire before it spread. She said: “When the fire started, it was the divisional police officer of Ijora Badia Police Station who called firefighters.
The firefighters refused to come. But when they finally came, they could not come in due to the bad condition of the road leading into the market.
“We are calling on the government of Lagos State to provide a god road for the market. It will help prevent future disasters in the market and the neighbouring areas.”
When our correspondent visited the market, some traders were already reconstructing some of their burnt shops, while others were busy packing wreckage caused by the inferno.
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