Fire Guts Benue Market, Destroys Shops, Goods

A raging inferno has consumed a section of the main market in Markurdi, Benue State with many shops and goods worth millions of naira destroyed, officials said Tuesday night.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but first responders were said to have been mobilised to the scene.

The Benue government spokesperson, Terver Akase, said the fire only touched a section of the market along George Akume Road at about 6:30 p.m.

The market, containing a row of lock-up shops, was built by former Governor Gabriel Suswam to unclog the Makurdi city centre and ease trading.

The market served as a temporary shelter for victims of the devastating flood of 2017 and residents who fled their villages at the height of violence by herdsmen between late 2017 and early 2018. (NAN)