Victims of the Otukpo Main Market fire incident which left destruction in its wake may have gotten some succour as the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has donated N50m to those affected by the fire.

WuzupNigeria reports that the fire gutted some sections of the market, in Otukpo local government area of the state, in the early hours of Monday morning.

Ortom announced the donation after inspecting the burnt section of the market on Tuesday. He said the amount was a palliative to support the traders, adding he would set up a special committee to comprising of cabinet members and the trader’s union that would liaise with Otukpo council chairman to work out modalities on how the money would be shared among the victims.

He said the gesture was to enable the victims to start life anew.

According to him, based on the report from the committee the market may be moved from its present location to a new place to accommodate more traders hence the rapid growth of the market and people of the area.

Ortom while sympathising with the traders, recounted the damage caused by the inferno at the Market and expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost.

“The Otukpo Main Market where our traders are trading is no longer enough for them. I will mandate cabinet member to join hands with the chairman to work out things for them to move to the new site. Also, we will press on all those traders who took government to court to withdraw all the cases. Right now the market is not enough to all those coming into the market

“Government is quite disturbed about the spate of insecurity in Otukpo axis and zone c in general.

“You must join hands to this so as to draw investment to Otukpo, we must be agent of change and volunteer information to security agencies”, he said.

WuzupNigeria reports that the immediate past chairman of Otukpo LG, George Alli, said the fire had brought untold hardship to the traders. He said over 315 shops were burnt but the cause of the fire could not be ascertained as of Tuesday morning,

“We are making plans to relocate the traders to a new site. We just secured a place and we are making plans to open it up such that fire trucks and other vehicles can have access whenever there is an emergency.

“The state Chairman of Nigeria Institute of Architect, Arch Uloko had called to say that he will do the design of the new market free of charge as his own contribution to rebuilding the market.

“The market has five entrances and the marketers complained that the firefighters came on time but no space to pass to put out the fire. All the five gates were locked and it was agreed that every day as the market close you remove your fuse so there won’t be light” Alli explained.