Tragedy struck in Maiduguri on Sunday when fire razed large sections of the popular Monday Market, the largest market in Borno State.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but eyewitnesses told PUNCH Metro that it started between 2.30am and 3am.
When our correspondent went round sections of the market, some traders were seen struggling to save whatever wares they could save from their shops to avoid losing everything.
“I lost everything in my five shops,” Abubakar Isa, dealer of second-hand clothes told PUNCH Metro tearfully, adding, “I cannot immediately estimate the cost of my losses, but I can tell you that it is over N30m.”
Musa Sulaiman had two shops of home decoration items such as rugs and suitcases.
“The two shops were all razed down, and I lost everything,” he told PUNCH Metro, estimating the cost of his losses at “nothing less than N50m.”
Alhaji Modu Kijimi lost one of his two shops of empty sacks. He was too emotionally devastated to estimate the cost of his losses.
Alhaji Sani Hausari is a major livestock dealer who has five shops of live chickens, guinea fowl and pigeons.
He lost all of them with hundreds of birds. He could not estimate the cost of his losses.
“Livestock sellers have lost about 20 shops with hundreds of birds,” he confirmed.
Our correspondent reported that security agents, mainly soldiers and policemen had been deployed to guard the market looters.
They were intermittently firing teargas to scare the people flooding into the market and ensure that no criminals loot the property of the traders.
“Soon after the fire started, criminals began to trickle into the market, looting shops,” an eyewitness told PUNCH Metro, saying, “I can tell you that hundreds of millions of naira worth of properties have already been looted.”
Governor Babagana Zulum, who went round the market, Sunday morning, announced a N1bn relief for the victims, promising to see the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), immediately for more relief.
He also urged humanitarian organisations to come to the aid of the victims.
This is the third time over the last 20 years that fired razed Maiduguri’s Monday Market.
Buhari expresses grief
Meanwhile, Buhari, on Sunday, expressed grief over the destruction caused by the early morning fire.
He also urged residents and disaster management agencies to be more vigilant as “winds and rising temperatures increase the risks of fires in forests, homes, public buildings and markets.”
Buhari’s message was contained in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, titled ‘Maiduguri market fire: President Buhari calls for strict vigil.’
The President commended the immediate response of the Zulum-led state government, directing effective coordination and collaboration between federal and state agencies to bring needed relief to those affected.
“The President urged the state and federal agencies responsible for fire management to strive towards higher levels of preparedness, mitigation efforts and strengthening their response mechanisms to deal with the increasing menace of market and other fire disasters,” the statement read.
