A fire outbreak has destroyed an entire business unit, Ebonext Foods and More, at the Technology Incubation Centre in Minna, destroying goods and properties estimated at several millions of naira.
Mrs Ogochukwu Tosin Juliana, a young entrepreneur, while counting her losses, said the fire, which started in the early hours of the morning, consumed all her equipment, production machines, and goods for the production of kuli-kuli, otherwise known as groundnut biscuits, estimated at nearly about N20 million.
Juliana, who arrived at the scene after receiving multiple missed calls from the centre, was met with the heartbreaking sight of her workspace reduced to ashes/rubble.
According to her, “When I woke up this morning, I saw a series of missed calls from the incubation center. So, I called and asked what was happening. They told me that there was a fire outbreak in my unit that the fire outbreak was no small one. Immediately, I dressed up and started coming to the incubation centre.
“On reaching here, I discovered that everything in my unit was burnt to ashes. There was nothing they could recover for me, they were not able to rescue anything due to the late appearance of the fire service personnel. They called the federal fire service who didn’t come before they called the State Fire Service perssonel.who responded and quickly put off the raging fire so that it will not get to the remaining units.
“All my appliances, my equipment, my production machines, everything got burnt. From the grinding machine to the packaging machines, everything got burnt. I have a production that I just did last Thursday worth about N2million meant for distribution this week, all got burnt in the fire.”
According to one of the security officers on duty, Shittu Ladan, they noticed billowing smoke from the unit during their routine night patrol. They immediately raised an alarm and contacted the fire service personnel. However, the response was slow.
“We called the Federal Fire Service, which is close by around the Tunga community in Minna, but they said it was not within their jurisdiction. It was only after we called the state fire service personnel that we were able to put off the fire. Unfortunately, by then, the fire had already done significant damage.”
He noted that this was the first time such an incident was occuring in the centre, hilighting that they could not rescue anything because the unit was locked and they did not have the key.
Nathaniel Kojoko, a staff member in the centre’s technical department, confirmed that the fire was contained within the unit and did not spread to other sections, emphasising that preliminary investigations suggest an electrical spark may have ignited the blaze.
He also expressed concern over the extent of the damage, calling it an unprecedented event in the centre.
“This is a very unfortunate incident. We have never witnessed something like this here before,” he said, adding that the centre would escalate the matter to the zonal director and the Director-General for possible intervention.
“We appeal to the federal government and other public-spirited people to support her in rebuilding her business. This will alleviate a little pain from our sister. But it’s a very, very, bad incident that we have never witnessed in this centre.
“The aim of the center is to empower entrepreneurs. So the government cannot leave the entrepreneurs like that when something happens to her. We will do our best to help her start her business all over again,” he said.
Juliana, therefore, appealed to the Niger state government and the management of the incubation centre for support with the view to rebuild her business. “I believe that God will raise assistance for me. I hope the government and the centre will help me start again,” she said.
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