An inferno razed down four shops along Ugbowo-Lagos road in Benin City, Edo State, on Wednesday afternoon, despite collaborative efforts by firefighters from the Federal Fire Service, Edo State Fire Service, Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport, University of Benin Fire Service, and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
The inferno was reported to have started around 2 pm in one of the shops dealing with hospital and laboratory equipment, later spreading to other shops within the building.
It was learned that the fire incident caused anxiety as residents and shop owners made frantic efforts to salvage goods, while operatives of the different fire services were on the ground to fight the fire, without any luck.
One of the affected shop owners who spoke with journalists, Mr. Sunday Madubuko, recounted that at about 2:45 pm, a shop next to his own was on fire, as informed by the shop salesgirl.
“The salesgirl ran to my shop telling me that fire is burning in our office. I told her I don’t have a fire extinguisher. Before I knew it, the fire extended to my boutique. All I know is that the fire started from the laboratory shop and spread to other shops. The cause of the fire, I still don’t know. What I lost in the inferno is goods worth over N20,000,000,” Madubuko said.
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In a similar development, a fire outbreak in the early hours of Tuesday destroyed goods worth billions of naira in a commercial building near Ekiosa market in Benin City, the Edo state capital.
The inferno also razed a bureau de change shop and burnt foreign and local currencies.
It was gathered that the fire outbreak started at about 1:30 am after an electric spark when power was restored.
A caretaker of the building and trader, Comrade Sani Yalubu, stated that 20 shops were affected, adding that all the goods were destroyed.
Yalubu said: “I was at home when I got a call that the building was on fire. I ran down, but we could not salvage any goods because the shops were in flames.”
According to him, “aside from the goods, Bureau De change operators have shops here. Euros, Dollars, and other foreign and local currencies burnt to ashes. Nobody took anything out of their shops. Provisions, electronic gadgets, generators, among others; including dollars and Euros, were destroyed.
“I can say billions of naira were lost to fire. Our hope is in God, and we believe it is an act of God,” Yalubu stated.
A trader, Ugochinyere Francis, said the fire razed her cosmetics and her mother’s provision shops to rubble.
Others who also spoke on the development called on the state government to assist them in starting a new life.