The Potiskum Central Market has been a hub of commercial activities for a long time. It is where business owners make a fortune and provide jobs for others, particularly the young who engage in hard labour.
However, things have changed as fire outbreaks continue to ruin businesses over time in different parts of the market, especially during the harmattan.
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In 2017, about 50 shops were burnt down to ashes, with a similar incident happening in May 2020 and the most recent, last Monday’s early morning inferno, which razed about 51 shops with properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
The situation has thrown traders, especially the section occupied by traditional medicine sellers, into a sorry state as many of them have lost their source of livelihood.
When Daily Trust Saturday visited the scene, one of the victims, an old man called Hassan Isa, was standing over ashes from what used to be his shop.
“I was so disturbed when I received a call that my shop was burning.
“Since then, I lost control of myself because the source of livelihood I have depended on for years was destroyed,” he said.
“I catered for my family from the business.
“Before I was into painting but because of my age, I could no longer combine both jobs.
“Now I have lost goods worth N2 million to the disaster.”
A herbalist, Ibrahim Saleh, said the first thing he did was to resort to prayers, adding that only God can replace their loss because the destruction has affected many of them.
On how his family are faring amidst the loss, Saleh said they were all at home waiting for their daily bread as usual.
“We thank God that we received a lot of support from the state government and individuals.
“We can’t thank them enough for all they have done.
“They have started reconstructing our stalls and I think it is a step forward,” he said.
Adamu Shehu Aura said that they closed business successfully only to wake up to a fire disaster in the morning.
“It is actually a sad experience for any business owner who comes to his shop with the intention of earning and discovers ashes and charcoal.
“But we surrender our fate to the will of God,” Aura said, adding that they can’t get back all they have lost but as government has begun reconstruction of their stalls, they need some capital to rebuild their businesses.
On his part, the Chairman, Traditional Medicine Sellers Association, Mohammed Jibrin mai Alsin, shared in the grief of his fellow traders.
“I am also a victim of this disaster. We lost our shops and properties worth millions of naira.
“I must commend the quick response of the authorities for all the support and donations we got.”
An official with the fire service office in Potiskum said: “On receiving the information, we quickly sent some of our personnel and firefighting vehicles to the scene of the incident to stop the fire from spreading to other shops, but we could only do little as the fire raged till 3 am.”
He said that there were no casualties, but one person was injured and property yet to be estimated were lost to the fire outbreak.
Though the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, he advised traders to be more careful and desist from using instruments capable of triggering fire as a way of guarding against future occurrence.
Responding on the government’s action, the Executive Secretary State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr Mohammed Goje, said the agency has already began reconstruction of stalls to augment the losses of traders affected by the fire outbreak.
“We responded swiftly to the directives of Governor Mai Mala Buni to immediately bring succour to the victims and as a matter of priority, we saw the need to bring the victims back into their businesses by constructing temporary stalls to enable them continue providing for their families,” he said, adding that the agency has liaised with the information ministry to sensitize people on protecting themselves and their environment.
