Early morning fire outbreak has razed shops and stalls in the Nguru Central Market in Nguru Local Government Area of Yobe State, leading to the loss of goods and property worth millions of naira by the traders who just took delivery of products Friday night via the train station in the town.
The fire outbreak, whose source could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, broke out in the early hours of Saturday shortly after the traders of the market restocked their shops with goods delivered to them by train from Kano.
According to Audu Yaro, the information officer of Nguru LGA, over three hundred shops were completely burnt down by the fire.
“Their was a fire outbreak in the Nguru Central Market around 1.30am Saturday. It burnt down over three hundred shops belonging to marketers who specialise in wholesales.
These dealers worked late into the night on Friday as they restocked the shops with goods delivered to them by train from Kano. You know there is a rail track that terminates at Nguru town from Kano, so these dealers often transport their goods by the train from Kano.
“Their goods arrived on Friday evening about the time they were to close business for the day but they had to stay back to offload the goods into their various stalls after which they left very late in the night, say about 12 midnight,” the information officer disclosed.
Audu Yaro stated further that half of the stores in the market was completely burnt leading to the loss of properties quantified in millions of naira, noting that the source of the fire was unknown.
“We don’t know how the fire came about but it burnt down more than half of the stores in the modern market.
As at 5 o’clock in the evening (Saturday), fire service were still struggling to put off the fire. To show you the enormous damage in the market,” he concluded.