Tragedy struck on Thursday morning when fire razed not less than 42 lock-up shops at the business centre of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.
The shop owners are currently counting their losses following the fire outbreak that affected the shops on Block D of the centre comprising mainly computer operators, barbing salons and provision stores.
It was gathered from multiple sources within the university that no fire service was available to help save the situation.
The source said that: “I learnt that when the fire started, they alerted the university fire service but they said that the battery of the truck was faulty. They said they’ve reported to the management for a release of money for it to be fixed or for a new one to be bought but nothing was done.”
According to him, “They also contacted the Federal Fire Service but they said that they don’t have tyres in their truck, but I cannot verify how true that is. But it’s unfortunate that because of the ineffectiveness of the fire service, this great damage happened. I believe that if there were fire fighters, the fire would have been put out these shops and properties would have been saved.”
One of the shop owners, Prince Hosea Mathias, said that he got a call at about 4:00 a.m. from someone informing him that shops on the complex were on fire.
He said he was informed that the fire was caused by an electrical fault, “and I was also told that all efforts to get the fire service to come proved abortive; by the time I got there later in the morning, I discovered that all the shops were burnt down.”
Hosea Mathias added that, “I run a computer business centre and IT solution. I lost everything I have in my shop, computers, printers, furniture, generator, POS machines and a lot of things.”
Another victim, Alfred Joseph, who owns a computer business centre, said that nothing was removed from his shop, adding that he was called by a friend and was told that his shop was burnt down.
He explained that, “I am not currently in Bauchi, I traveled to Abuja and a friend called me this morning to inform me of the incident. He told me that everything in my shop has been burnt down. All my properties including photocopiers, computers, laptop, printers, my generator and everything I have in that shop was all destroyed. It’s so unfortunate,”.
Though the management of the University confirmed the development and sympathized with the shops owners, the officer contacted declined to make further comments on the issue of fire fighting trucks.
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