Nigerians Worried Over Endless Market Infernos

By: Job Osazuwa

Residents of Lagos were once again greeted with another round of fire disasters in the early hours of Thursday, February 13.

At the popular Mile 12 Market in Lagos, one of Nigeria’s most famous markets, three shops were razed in a fire that broke out in the early hours of that fateful Thursday. Expectedly, the fire consumed goods and property.

If not for the prompt intervention of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the Lagos State Fire Service, the inferno would have perhaps wreaked more havoc. The affected part of the market was the area designated for sellers of rice and frozen items.

The fire was reportedly caused by an electrical surge at about 5:30am. It was learnt that the fire started immediately the electricity company restored power in the neighbourhood.

This came barely one week after a market in Ajah, Lagos, was also gutted by fire.

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The Mile 12 Market incident came barely two weeks after over seven buildings were razed on Martins Street, Balogun Market, Lagos. The cause of the fire was allegedly attributed to an attempt by a trader to fuel a running generator.

At the same market, on November 6, 2019, just as traders were stocking wares in their shops for Christmas and New Year sales, a fire struck, destroying their goods. Traders whose shops were razed in the market, known for its wide selection of colourful Nigerian fabrics, were shocked and devastated as they watched their means of livelihood completely burn down.

On December 31, 2019, traders at the popular Kara cattle market, close to the Berger Garage, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, lost millions of naira when the market was gutted by fire.

The New Year eve fire destroyed goods, property and vehicles worth millions of naira. Eyewitnesses said as many as 40 shops, five storage facilities, 20 residential rooms, and cash, worth millions of naira, were destroyed in the inferno.

Apart from Lagos, many markets outside the state have also been hit by fire. From Lagos to Sokoto, Benin to Onitsha, the story is the same – fire disasters ravaging markets with lives lost and millions of naira worth of goods and property destroyed, which compounds the suffering and poverty in the land.

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The incidents have left many traders in tears, pain, sorrow and unquantifiable loss. Many have lost billions of naira worth of destroyed goods. Some traders have been sent back to their villages after the disaster. And many people are getting worried over the unending incidents.

Many people have raised the alarm that some of the disasters might have been man-made. Some claim that arsonists might be deliberately causing the fires in a bid to loot goods even before the owners arrive at the scene.

More confusing is that the causes of the fire outbreaks are hardly ever unravelled.

This has led to serious concern by traders, governments and other stakeholders in the country. Many people believe that most of the disasters were to due to negligence on the parts of the traders. But there are other analysts who suspect that there might have been high levels of conspiracies within the markets to loot the goods of innocent traders. Other observers are calling on government to ensure that the markets are built in a way that when a fire starts from a particular spot, it would be difficult to penetrate other shops.

It is also believed that most traders don’t replace their faulty electrical material such as wall sockets with original ones, thereby creating room for possible sparks when there is abnormal power outage or restoration. Many of them are also accused of not putting off all sockets at the close of the day. They are also accused of not buying original sockets to minimise looming danger.

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It has been observed that while some other countries in the Western world are battling with natural disasters resulting from unprecedented widespread wild fires, partly as a result of climate change-related heat wave, Nigerians are battling with mostly manmade disaster.

A retired police officer, Mr Edomwonyi Edokpagbe, told Daily Sun that the incessant fire outbreaks could be traced to different factors and loopholes.

Said he: “Most of the markets are built with inferior materials. Except a few ones, markets across the country are hurriedly built by the developers for business to commence. This is not supposed to be so because the traders will commit millions or billions of naira into trading there.

“When putting up such an investment, a lot of things should be put into consideration. For instance, have you taken your time to check the credibility of the security personnel in many markets all over Nigeria? This is supposed to be the most sensitive part of operation in every market but unfortunately the most neglected.

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“Statistics have shown that most of the fire started in the night. Then certain questions need to be asked regarding this. This is not to rule out the possibility of natural occurrence in some of the outbreak. Again, security is everything when it comes to doing business whether in small or large scale. What we have in our markets is using people with no experience in security and safety matters to man the place. Those in authority do this as compensation for people who fought their electoral. It shouldn’t be so.”

Just last week in Osun State, a late-night fire outbreak razed a sawmill at the Oke-Omiru area of Ilesa in state.

There were no casualties in the incident, which lasted almost two hours, but woods worth hundreds of thousand were destroyed.

The fire spread to raze a church and also destroyed a cooperative building located within the sawmill. Many lauded the intervention of fire service men in stopping the inferno from affecting a truck loaded with planks in the sawmill and the surrounding buildings.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Folasade Odoro, said the incident affected machines used by loggers. She added that the state Police Command promptly deployed men to the scene to curtail criminal activities around the sawmill.

Also, the administrative officer of the state fire service, Fatai Aremu said the operatives noticed a bush set on fire around the state Secretariat, Abere along Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding around 8 pm the same day.

He, therefore, warned residents to desist from setting a bush on fire to avoid grave consequences.

In Lagos, an early morning inferno recently razed the popular Amu Plank and Building Material market in the Mushin area of the state. Property worth hundreds of millions of naira was destroyed in the fire. The source of the fire still remains unknown.

A trader in the market, Oluwatoyin Atanda, lamented that her family had lost all they have to the fire.

She said: “Our assets, where almost all my family members get their income from, it is disheartening to see our goods go down in flames with no help coming four hours after. We can do better as a nation.”

The fire incident at Amu plank market came five days after fire ravaged the Abule Egba area of Lagos, when vandals burst an oil pipeline to scoop fuel. The raging fire destroyed houses and vehicles, throwing the community into panic.

Concerned Nigerians have called on federal and state government emergency agencies to upgrade their equipment in order to aid better response and to avert huge loss, especially in markets.

On January 12, 2018, no fewer than 100 shops, equipment and goods worth millions of naira were razed in an inferno at a section of the Sango Plank Market in Ibadan, Oyo State. Before the 2018 incident, the market had witnessed many such disasters in the past, with the last razing over 300 shops.

The Lagos State Government has promised to rebuild some of the razed markets in a public-private partnership arrangement. But many have said that in the erstwhile burnt markets that were later rebuilt and turned to mega shopping plazas, the government totally shut out the original shop owners as a result of exorbitant rent, thereby complicating their woes.

On October 17, 2019, fire disaster dealt a devastating blow on traders at Ochanja market in Onitsha. The fire was ignited after a petrol tanker, laden with fuel, fell into a gutter and spilled its contents, thereby sparking a fire. Six buildings and shops were destroyed. About seven people, including a nursing mother and her baby, were killed in the fire.

On November 19, 2018, over N10 million worth of goods were consumed by fire at the Nkwo Ngwa Market fire in Aba. On February 6, 2019,  fire destroyed 70 shops in Yan’Katako Market in Rijayar Lemo area of Kano State. On June 10, 2019, another fire gutted six shops in Kofar Ruwa Market (Kasuwar ‘Yan Rodi) in the state.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and other emergency responders have raised concerns over inaccessibility to the markets when there is a fire outbreak. According to them, such situations had further compounded problems, as fire-fighting trucks were unable to respond to emergencies in good time.

A Lagos resident, Omolara Akin said fire preventive mechanisms should be more focused on by the government. She urged governments at state and local government levels to build modern markets that would eradicate or minimise possible fire outbreak. She believed that traders also have roles to play in averting fire disasters in markets.

“No matter how protected the building is, traders need to be fire conscious because a lot of activities can lead to fire, especially during this dry season,” she said.

Perturbed by the unhealthy development, the Lagos State Government said it is already working out modalities to inaugurate emergency committees in all markets across the state.

The Director General, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, who made the disclosure, said that the frequency of the fire incidents had prompted the state to be proactive by collaborating with the market leaders to take positive steps to avoid loss of their investments to fire outbreaks.

He said the government would work with market leaders like the ‘Iyalojas’ and ‘Babalojas’ on the inauguration of emergency committees to avert fire incidents.