Traders Laments As Fire Destroyed Goods Worth Millions Of Naira in Orita-Aperin market

 Weeks after a fire accident which happened at Onipepeye bridge along Lagos/Ibadan expressway where lives were lost, another fire incident also broke up yesterday 14th June in the middle of the night in Orita-Aperin Market, Ibadan, destroying goods worth millions of naira.

Speaking with Journalists at the scene of the incident, The Babaloja of Orita-Aperin market, Abiodun Hammed said that goods worth millions of naira was lost to the inferno, adding that the cause of the incident was yet to be known.

“The fire started by 12 midnight on Friday, and we immediately called on Oyo State Fire Service but unfortunately, when they got here, the nozzle of their truck was not functioning, so we have to resolve to self help by putting out the fire ourselves, or else, the loss would have been more than this.

He further noted that most of the owners of the shops affected by the fire just bought goods into their respective shops, adding that this was what makes the total value of the goods affected by the fire to be much.

“The shops that were affected include shop of a jewelry seller, shop of a food ingredient seller, shop of a provision seller, red oil seller and herbs seller among others, five million, six hundred thousand was the worth of jewelries that got burnt, and most of the goods affected in the shops of the herbs seller can not be replace because they were ancient goods that can not be seen on market again.”

He however appealed to the Oyo State government to come to their aids because the loss was too much for the victim to bear.

One of the victim, who’s shops was also affected by the fire, Latifat Adegbola appealed to the Oyo State government to assist them financially because the money they used to buy the affected goods was collected based on interest.

“All my goods has been consumed by fire and the remaining ones are useless, we are calling on the state government to come to our aids so that we can survive.”

The market women however alleged that the fire would have not gone to that extent if the Oyo State Fire Service truck that was deployed to the scene of the incident functioned properly.

Reported by Abimbola Emmanuel, Ibadan