A fire outbreak caused by a power surge traced to one of the makeshift shops has destroyed about 15 shops and consumed goods worth millions of naira at the Oba Lipede market, Kuto, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital on Saturday night.
Penpushing reports that an eyewitness account said the fire started at about 9:49 p.m. from the makeshift palm kernel shop where the owner was also using for recycling of items with use of gas which is located outside the market and spread to the main Oba Lipede market.
The traders were seen on Sunday morning in group and lamenting over the huge loss, seeing their shops were razed down, while one of them was heard saying she had lost N500,00 cash kept for onward deposit to bank on Monday.
Penpushing further reports that the shop owner added that goods worth N1.5million was loss, just as sources added that some hoodlums took the opportunity to loot the affected shops shortly after the incident, which prompted security agents to swiftly responded to control the situation
The Commissioner for Special Duties, Funmi Efuwape on the development explained that the fire was caused shanties erected outside the main market building, adding that with this incident, the shanties would be pull down by government
“The fire outbreak was caused by these shanties erected outside the main market building. Now that they (traders) have seen it for themselves, I am sure when the government comes in and tells them that all these shanties must go, definitely, they will agree with us that they have to go’, she said.
‘About ten shops were affected outside and five inside. The five would not have been affected if the ones outside were not there. The fire started from the illegal structures outside and erupted to the main building’, Efuwape added
Penpushing also reports that the Commissioner declared that the main market building will undergo an integrity test to ascertain its safety while the government will roll out measures to renovate the market.
The Director of Ogun State Fire Service, Engr Fatai Adefala, confirmed this incident adding that the state fire service was contacted at about 10.15pm and its men raced to the market to salvage the situation.
‘There was a fire incident at the market on Saturday night. We were contacted at about 22:15 and we quickly raced down to bring the situation under control. Ten shops were affected and the fire affected some goods inside these shops’, he said.
‘The incident was due to the explosion of a generator being used in the area and which is being powered by gas. A businessman who is into extracting the palm kernel shaft is said to be the owner of the generator and there was said to have been a power surge when this fire broke out’, Adefala added.
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