Goods worth millions of naira were Monday destroyed at the popular Oba market, located in Benin metropolis, Oredo Local Government of Edo State, as a result of a fire outbreak.
The fire incident is coming few days after the traders, who had been trading in primary schools due to COVID-19, were directed to return to their respective market places.
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The fire was brought under control by a combined team of firefighters from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, Federal Fire Service, Edo State Fire Service and the Nigerian Army school of Supply and Transportation, Benin.
As at the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained even as some traders believe it may have been caused by a power surge.
Some of the traders, who spoke to our reporter, lamented that they could not salvage their goods.
One of the traders, Osasuwa Anthony, said her goods were burnt in the early morning fire.
She said she couldn’t salvage any of her goods as her shop was completely burnt.
“They called me at about 1 am today that Oba market is on fire.
“I ran as quickly as I can but my goods were already razed down.”
Also speaking, Habiba, who deals in cosmetics, said she had lost all her goods worth millions of naira in the fire.
“They called me that the market is on fire and I rushed here to see if my shop was not affected but to my greatest surprise, everything I have was gone.
“When the government opened the market last week, I decided to stock my shops with goods.
“Sadly, I have lost my means of livelihood.
“How will I feed my family now that I have lost everything?”
Other traders, who spoke to our reporter, called on the state government and other well meaning individuals to come to their aid, saying they had lost their means of livelihood in the inferno.
Meanwhile, an assistant controller general of Federal Fire Service in the state, Karebo Samson, said he could not tell the cause of the fire at the moment.
“I cannot tell you that this is the cause of the fire.
“We will send in our investigators possibly today or tomorrow so they can ascertain what actually caused the fire.
“We have been here since past 12 am battling the fire,” he said.
Samson said he received a distress call from the Chief Security Officer attached to the government house in Benin and quickly mobilised his men to scene to salvage the situation.
