149 shops burnt in Nguru market fire - Official

The Chairman, Nguru Marketers Association, Alhaji Rabilu Alhassan said the Sunday morning fire inferno in the central market, Nguru, consumed 149 shops.

Speaking with Daily Trust on phone, Rabilu said the fire which broke out around 1:25am Sunday razed properties estimated at N51.6 million.

“We have carefully assessed the quantum based on individual shop owners to come to N51.6 million,” he said.

Alhassan added that the fire outbreak was the 18th within the last 20 years and had rendered many businessmen poor.

He said the fire could have been put out earlier to avert mass destruction but was not possible due to lack of access road.

“We regret that the market is so congested. We couldn’t avoid the large scale destruction because we had no access road for the fire fighters to move,” he said.

He called on the state government to modernize the market to address congestion and avert future occurrence.

He also called on philanthropists, government and wealthy individuals to assist the victims regain their livelihood.

“We commended Senate leader, Ahmed Lawan for the generous and timely intervention and the state government delegation for taking quick assessment of our losses with hope to cushion the effect soonest,” he added.

Ahmed Lawan who represents Yobe North Senatorial Zone, has donated N10 million to victims of the fire disaster.