Displaced traders count losses as fire guts plank market in Lagos

Though the cause of the fire outbreak on the market located at Demurin street could not be ascertained but the traders have lamented the inferno saying it will have adverse effects on their source of livelihood especially at the Yuletide season.

The traders who claimed the incident has caught them unawares urged the state government to rally round them.

One of them, Mrs Yetunde Ewuoso said she lost items worths N9m to the inferno while another Madam Binuyo Olusola said she lost items worth N5.8m.

Another trader Alhaja Asanike Ebudola who lost items and N300,000 cash to the inferno said she lost about N420,000 to a robbery attack on Wednesday, November 11, 2020.

Mrs Ebudola said the news of the fire incident on the plank market could not be forgotten. ” I was a victim of a robbery attack about a month ago and just recuperating when this one occurred. I loaned N1m to put myself in order. Look at what has happened again,”

While the traders were counting their losses, the incident seems to have provided succour for scavengers who were seen picking some of the remains from the market.

The Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke Osanyintolu, said the inferno started from a section of the market which raged and spread rapidly due to the impact of Harmattan season. He said, “though the cause could not be ascertained but it is evident that there is extensive damage with valuable goods have been destroyed by the fire,”

He said no life was lost to the incident which was eventually curtailed by both LASEMA and the state fire service.