Traders Count Losses as Fire Destroys Karu Market

*FEMD blames lack of access road for fire

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

A fire outbreak at the Karu Main Market, Abuja, has left scores of traders in tears after goods worth millions of naira were destroyed.
Eye witnesses said the fire occurred late Thursday night, when the market had closed for business. It razed almost all the shops and destroyed food stuff, electronics, cosmetics, clothes and among other consumable and non-consumable items.

The market was under lock as debris and soothes from burnt remains littered the entire environment when THISDAY visited the place yesterday. Also many of the shops were still burning with the market emitting thick smoke of fire.
One of the traders, Ben Ogbue, estimated the value of goods he lost to the fire at N20 million. He said all the electronics stocked in the shop, including the consignment supplied to him two weeks ago were burned.

Another trader, Joakim Igweh who had been selling kitchen utensils for the past 15 years, lamented that he had lost wares worth over N15 million.
In a tone that betrayed emotion, Igweh said he was called back to the market at about 8.00p.m., when it was too late to salvage anything from his shop.
He said: “l lost kitchen utensils worth millions of naira. I was called at about 8.00p.m., but it was already late before I could run here as the fire was already out of control. All the shops were seriously on fire. My prayer is that the government should come to our aid.”

A wholesale provisions seller, Emmanuel Chibuke, said the fire had destroyed all he had laboured for in the last 15 years.
Chibuke estimated his loss to the fire at over N10 million. He said that someone called him on Thursday night after the close of business that Karu Market was on fire and that his shop was grossly affected.
 “When I came, I saw that fire was on top of the roofs of our shops and everything was burning, so there was nothing I could even salvage,” he said.

Meanwhile, the FCT Emergency Management Department (FEMD) has attributed the inability of firemen to gain access to the scene on time as one of the reasons for the large-scale damages caused by the fire.

The Acting Director General of  FEMD, Mrs. Florence Wenegieme, said the fire fighters mobilized by the agency were unable to gain access to the market which was located behind the new market under construction.

In a statement signed by Head, Public Affairs, FEMD, Nkechi Isa, the agency said a combined team of the FCT Fire Service, Federal Fire Service and Julius Berger Fire Service contained the fire out-break Thursday night.

“It was the illegal market/settlement behind the new market under construction that was engulfed by fire. We had enough firetrucks and firemen, but we could not gain access to the market, so we had to break walls to have access for the firefighting hose, that was what caused the delay in putting out the fire,” Wenegieme said.

She further stated that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, adding that investigations were, however, ongoing.