Fire razes boutique shop in Minna’s Kure market in Niger

Nnamdi Njoku, who spoke on behalf of the shop owner, Chima
Njoku, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that they lost everything
as he met only debris smoldering in the shop on arrival.

He said he did not know the cause of
the second fire which razed all the goods in his brother’s twin shop as
the shop was intact earlier during the first fire.

Njoku said that he would not attribute the
fire to electrical fault because the entire market had been without
power for three days.

“It is a huge loss we have incurred here as you can see, we lost all our goods to the inferno.

“It is only our boutique shop that got burnt in the second fire outbreak located at One Nigeria Line at the Kure Market.

“The goods that we lost runs into millions
of naira because my brother’s goods just arrived from China for the
Christmas and New Year sales.

“We really have not exhausted our stock before this casualty happened and it is going to really incapacitate us,’’ he said.

Njoku, who commended the Niger State Fire
Service, said that for their timely arrival, more shops aside his
brother’s would have been engulfed in the inferno.

Similarly, Mrs Eugenia Umejiego of Warehouse
Line, was seen evacuating her goods from her shop, saying she was
uncertain of what could happen thereafter.

“I am painstaking in evacuating my goods
using manual labour to save my goods which are in millions as you can
see this shop is loaded with bags of rice, wheat, semovita, semolina and
other goods.

“Many have long removed their goods for
fear of the unknown, though it is costly to have all my goods repacked
to a safer place, I feel it is better and safer than lose all,’’ she said.

Umejiego said that if the fire could rekindle
and engulf another shop after the Niger State Fire Service had
extinguish it, anything could happen after, especially in the harmattan
season.

Also speaking, Mr Abubakar Abudullahi, a
Fireman with the Niger State Fire Service, said the second fire was as a
result of combustible material in the burnt shop of Mr Chima Njoku.

Abdullahi said that if they had fire engine, it could have been easier to manage the fire that spread to many other shops.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
security was beefed up at the Kure Modern Market as scavengers and touts
were parading to take advantage of the situation.

NAN also reports that economic activities were
at its lowest ebb as many shop owners locked up their shops for fear of
the unknown while many were seen in clusters discussing the unfortunate
incident.(