Penultimate Thursday, fate played a cruel one on the traders and technicians at a GSM village in Lokoja, Kogi State capital as unexpected fire outbreak razed down 35 shops, leaving tales of woes on its trails.
Since the ugly incident, lamentation has become the companion of the victims of the market inferno, as many of them felt they have come to a dead end of life, considering its impact on the means of their livelihood.
“Our members have lost over N500m to the inferno that razed down 35 shops completely as it lasted. Many of them are back to square one ,with huge debt staring them in the face .
“Many of the victims invested their life savings and many others borrowed money from banks, cooperatives, friends or relatives to establish their businesses.
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“Some traders just restocked their shops with new wares/ materials ; all have been lost to the unexpected fire outbreak”, the secretary of the Kpata- Lokoja GSM Village Union, Miracle Elom, said.
The affected GSM village that is located between the popular Paparanda roundabout and Lokoja- kpata market along the IBB main driveway to Nataco end of the capital city shared the same fence with a fuel filling station at one side and residential buildings at other sides.
While several traders who lost their shops to the sudden inferno were seen picking their pieces.
However, other traders, who escaped the inferno were seen consoling with the victims.
Residents of the area confirmed noticing ray of light around 2.00am around the area but did not know initially until the blazing fire expanded and became noticeable in the community.
“The night was fraught with intermittent power outages by the energy providers. It was an off and on situation till around 3am when it went off permanently. I was alerted to the incident only when my neighbour raised an alarm over the burning of his shop.
“The inferno might have resulted from a spark from an electric cable, Auntie Ramatu Abdullahi, a resident around the GSM village, told Daily Trust.
Recounting his ordeal, a trader, Stephen Ajebo said that a friend alerted him to the devastating inferno in the market around 5.25am.
“ My friend called me around 5.25 am that the GSM market is on fire. I got there to notice that my shop was completely burnt down, including phones of my customers in my custody .
“I was told by the people sharing the same line feeding the market that the area experienced a sudden high power voltage surge in the night, which resulted in the fire, said Ajebo .
Madam Oyeiza, who operates a makeshift canteen in the market, said she had just received fresh stock of foodstuff when the incident happened.
“I sourced little money to expand my eatery business in the market, including exploring a new frontier. Unfortunately, few hours after I took in thevnew supply to the shops, the fire came in from nowhere and consumed everything I have laboured for.
“I don’t know where to start from now. The money I borrowed to expand this business and the little reserves, which I invested are gone with the blazing fire,” she said .
Equally, Pastor James who runs two shops said he has been struggling to maintain his business and the fire incident was a big setback.
“I have two shops over here, where my wife took charge to keep the home front afloat. Unfortunately, this fire has turned them into ashes, leaving me with nothing to hold on to,’’ he said.
Both the pastor and madam Oyeiza claimed to have lost N4 million and N5m investment respectively, in the inferno.
According to the Financial Secretary of Kogi Association of Phones and Accessories Dealers, (KAPAD), Moses Felix, the incident has affected him physically, and emotionally.
“I have been crying all this while since my shop was razed down by fire. I couldn’t do anything meaningful since this incident. I am into laptop repairs and sales. My goods that arrived in that week got burnt completely; so am back to the basics.
“Most of us are graduates. We created the jobs on our own, instead of staying at home endlessly, waiting and searching for illusive job. In this market, we have about 200 youths who are engaged in this kind of business to eke out a living; all efforts have ended in smokes of fire,” he said.
The Director of the Kogi State Fire Service, Mr Salawu Ozigi Umar who said the operatives received a distress call about the incident around 4.30am, described the incident as huge.
“We met a terrible delicate situation on arrival at the market , and discovered that the source of the ravaging fire was at point the market shared fence with the filling station. The discovery unsettled us immediately.
“Also, we noticed that its gushing flame has started reaching the office of the petrol station that shared fence with the market.
“Our timely arrival saved the fuel station, part of the market and adjoining residential buildings from being consumed. It would have turned out to be a catastrophic incident, “ he said.
The state governor, Usman Ahmed Ododo, who paid a visit to the market few hours after the incident to sympathise with the traders, promised to support them to restore back their sources of livelihood.
“The GSM village had provided a dependable and legitimate source of living for several youths and women in the state.
It has impacted the state’s economy positively.
“I assure the victims of immediate relief measures, and plans for rebuilding and recovery of affected property would soon commence,” he said .
To make good of his promise, the governor has set up a relief committee, headed by the Executive Secretary, Kogi State Emergency Management Agency(SEMA), Alhaji Mouktar Atimah.
The committee has been saddled with the responsibility of taking the inventory of the destroyed properties , including identifying the actual victims/ owners and establishing the cost implications to guide the government on how to assist the affected persons .
Accordingly, the SEMA executive secretary led committee said the assignment has been carried out and the report is almost set to be submitted to the appropriate authority for action .
“As instructed by Governor Ododo, I was at the market with my committee members where inventory of the situation was taken and documented for appropriate action.
Meanwhile, the nearly 100 victims of the fire incident have also appealed to individuals and corporate organisations to come to their aid.
They said they were determined to rebuild and come back stronger but would need the assistance of well-meaning Nigerians.
“I join hands with my other colleagues who are victims of the unexpected heart breaking fire disaster to appeal to Governor Usman Ahmed Ododo, various organisations and individuals to share in our grief by supporting us to rebuild our shops,” said a victim, Boniface Efula.
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