Enugu: Fire guts Nsukka market, goods destroyed

From Felix Ikem, Nsukka

Over twenty shops were on Monday gutted by fire in Ogige Main Market, Nsukka, Enugu State. The fire incident, which occurred around 12:30 pm, led to the destruction of goods and property worth millions of naira in the Phone Villa section of the market.

A source who pleaded anonymity told Daily Sun that the fire might have emanated from one of the shops and spread to other shops.

‘I was tracking down from Enugu Road when I saw people shouting fire! fire!.. pointing at the roofs of phone shops section of Ogige main market.

‘I don’t know what might be the cause of the fire since the shops are all locked because of sit-at-home order by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) being observed every Monday in the South East,’ the source said.

The source said further that over twenty shops were badly affected by the fire, adding that quick intervention of firefighters from Nsukka Fire Service helped to quell the fire and prevented it from spreading to other sections of the market.

‘Over twenty of the shops was badly affected by the fire, most of them are where new phones and phone accessories are sold.

‘The situation would have been worst, but for the quick intervention of the men of Nsukka Fire Service who responded immediately and put off the inferno,’ the source said.

Speaking with newsmen Mrs Ngozi Ozioko, the chairperson of the market, said she was in the house when she started getting a series of distress calls from traders that part of the market had been gutted fire.

‘Immediately I called the fire service office in Nsukka and Enugu who responded immediately.

‘I thank God for their prompt response without that the entire market would have been destroyed by the inferno.

‘No shop inside the market is affected by the fire, only the shops in the Peace Plaza building are affected,’ she said.

The chairman however expressed concern about what could have been the source of the fire when the market shops were under lock and key because of sit-at-home observed in South East every Monday.

‘Nobody is inside the market today because of sit-at-home, and more so, for the past four days, there has been no electricity in the market because our transformer developed a fault.

‘Unless the traders in that Peace Plaza connected light from another place,’ she said.

Ozioko said the market would set up a committee to ascertain the course of the fire outbreak and the cost of items destroyed.

When contacted, Mr Okwudili Ohaa, the Chief Fire Officer in Enugu State, confirmed the incident and said his men in the Nsukka Fire Service immediately rushed to the scene as soon as the office received the distress call.

‘Ozioko the Chairperson of Ogige Main Market Nsukka called me that there was a fire outbreak in the market and immediately I called our Nsukka and Orba firefighters to move to the scene.

‘Our prompt intervention stopped the fire from spreading to other shops,’ he said.

Ohaa however said the cause of the fire had not been ascertained but disclosed that he had directed his men to later investigate to find out the cause of the fire.