MANY traders in the popular Karmo market in Abuja are counting losses after fire razed their shops on Thursday.
The fire, which started around 12:00 am and lasted for over two hours, burnt down several shops and destroyed goods before it was put out by operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Fire Service.
Many of the traders affected by Thursday’s fire outbreak lost goods worth millions of naira in a similar fire incident that occurred barely nine months ago, in July 2021.
One of the victims, Ifeanyi Kelvin, who deals on soft drinks, had just begun to get back on his feet after losing his shop in the earlier fire incident in July.
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He told The ICIR that he lost goods worth almost N10 million in the July 2021 fire incident.
According to him, he is yet to determine how much he lost in the latest fire outbreak.
“In July we lost close to N10 million in that fire. Today, I cannot say exactly how much is gone, but we’ve lost almost everything,” he said.
While trying to salvage goods from what was left of the fire, Kelvin said the development had left him confused.
“I’m not sure of what to do next, I can’t say at this time,” he said.
Kelvin saved only about a hundred packs of drinks from his shop, a very small fraction of his business. But many others did not recover that much.
Nnamdi Anele, who also sold drinks at the market, said he restocked his two shops less than 24 hours before the early morning fire.
While other traders were receiving calls informing them of the fire, Anele’s phone was switched off due to a cut in power supply.
He did not arrive at the market early enough to save anything from the fire.
“Everything in my shop is gone with this fire. I could not take out even a pin from my two shops. Just yesterday, I transferred all the goods I kept in my warehouse into the shops. I don’t have anything in that warehouse as we speak, I don’t know where to start from,” he said.
Anele told The ICIR that some men had been employed to secure the shops. But none of them were present at the time of the fire.
“Three days ago, the committee in charge of security fees went round to collect levies. I paid N2,000 for my two shops. Now that this has happened, where are the security men? They are the ones who should tell us where or how this thing started,” he said.
Over the past few years, several fire incidents have been recorded in various markets in the FCT.
On July 6, 2021, goods worth millions of naira were destroyed in a fire incident that engulfed the same section of the Karmo market that got burnt on Thursday.
Five years ago, another fire incident had occurred in the same market. It lasted for about six hours.
Traders in other markets within the FCT have also lost goods worth millions in similar fire incidents.
In November 2021, the Kubwa Ultra Modern market was gutted by fire after a kerosene explosion. At least five people died in the incident.
Three weeks later, the Nyanya market went up in flames. But there were no casualties.
The fire incidents all begun in the middle of the night.
Some traders at Karmo market whose shops were not affected by the fire on Thursday lost goods to looters as many people, including scavengers, took advantage of the situation to steal.
Raymond Ajaeze, who had over 500 cartons of drinks stored in a warehouse within the area, heard of the fire and rushed to the market at about 2.00 am on Thursday.
He told The ICIR that looters capitalised on the situation to make away with his goods.
“I had just been supplied 500 cartons of this drink. If you count it, what is left is not up to 100 cartons. It is these scavengers. They were just everywhere,” he said.
Ajaeze further disclosed that he lost goods worth over N6 million in the earlier fire incident in July and told The ICIR that his losses this time were relatively less.
He also said the damage would have been greater if the FCT Fire Service had not responded promptly.
At the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
However, an official of the FCT Fire Service, Femi Martins, who was present at the scene told The ICIR that the incident is being investigated.
“We are trying to find out the cause of the fire, that is why we are here. We will give updates when investigations are concluded,” he said.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.