Fire guts Niger market, goods worth millions destroyed

Goods worth millions of Naira have been destroyed in a fire outbreak in Mokwa Central Market, the headquarters of Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State.

It was learnt the goods mostly affected in the fire incident were foodstuffs in the fire that broke early morning at about 4a.m.

The Star also gathered that four traders who slept in their shops sustained various degrees of injuries in the fire and currently receiving medical treatment at the Mokwa General Hospital.

Confirming the incident, paramount ruler of Mokwa, the Ndalile-Mokwa, Alhaji Mohammed Shaba said the fire razed down more than half of the shops in the market.

Shaba also the inferno started at about 4a.m. on Thursday and still burning due to lack of adequate fire fighting equipment to it out.

According to him, “As I am talking to you now, the fire is burning. We have not been able to put it out; it started since 4a.m. When they informed me of the fire outbreak, I quickly called the Fire Service, but due to lack of water tankers, they are not able to put it out. Now more than half of the market is destroyed.

“Hoodlums also took advantage of the situation to steal from the traders. But, we caught about four of them.”

Mohammed Yabuku, one of the traders, described the incident as sad and devastating, adding, “we have lost so much to this fire. It will be hard to recover from what is happening in this market today.”

TheStar