A fire outbreak at a GSM village near Kpata market in Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, has destroyed properties worth millions of naira.
The fire started in the early hours of Thursday due to a power surge.
According to the PUNCH, shop owners were unable to save their goods as the fire quickly spread out of control. One of the traders, Muhammed Yahaya, who lost his goods in the fire, shared his experience: “Somebody called me around 5:30 am today that the market is on fire. On getting there, many shops have already been burnt down. So we tried to look at the actual cause of the fire outbreak. From all indications so far, we were told by the people that stay within that the power voltage they brought was high.”
He continued, “The neighbouring houses there said it affected their fans, light, and other things. Actually, this might be the cause of the fire outbreak in the market. Millions of naira worth of goods have been destroyed. Laptops, phones, and accessories got burnt. The most unfortunate thing is that most of these people just received their goods this week. It has never happened before. It is still a big shock to every one of us who owns a shop in the market.”
Yahaya appealed to the Kogi State Government for help, asking for financial assistance and support in rebuilding the GSM village. “We know we have a Governor that has a listening ear. He is a father to us. As you can see, we are youths who are resourceful. Most of us are graduates, and we are not waiting for the Government to provide jobs for us. We created the jobs on our own.”
“The properties that we have been nurturing for over 15 years got burnt within an hour. We want the government to look into it by assisting us financially and rebuilding the market. In this market, we have about 200 youths who are engaged in this kind of business. People were hungry before this happened,” he added.
The Financial Secretary of the Kogi Association of Phones and Accessories Dealers (KAPAD), Moses Felix, also spoke about the impact of the fire. He described the incident as devastating, saying it has affected him physically, mentally, and emotionally. “I was crying this morning when my shop got burnt. I couldn’t do anything. I am into laptop repairs and sales. My goods that arrived this week got burnt completely, so I am starting from scratch.”
He further expressed his worries about the future: “I am a married man with kids. Where do I go from here and how can I feed my family in the midst of this economic hardship? The Government should come to our aid. We provide jobs for people. I have like three boys that are working for me who are under my payroll. Definitely, they are going back home without a job,” Felix lamented.
As of the time of this report, fire service officials were still working to put out the fire.
