Some shops at a major market in Yola Town, a community which together with Jimeta constitute the capital city of Adamawa State, have been destroyed by fire.
Indications late Thursday evening were that the fire occurred much earlier in the morning, about 9 o’clock, when some of the shop owners had already arrived the market.
Sources added that tailoring shops and shops in which ready-made clothes were sold were mostly affected by the fire said to have resulted from electrical fault.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ahmed Bashir who led a government delegation on a visit to victims of the incident, said the government would assist them to re-establish their businesses.
“We thank God that it happened during the day time when the market is open and the marketers are already around, otherwise this would have been a most serious disaster given the nature of the environment,” the SSG said.
He expressed the hope that those who lost their goods and properties would accept that the losses were destined to happen, and reiterated that the government would look at what could be done to assist them pick up.
He commended a standing rule of the market community on the use of power by which all shop owners put out their light from 6pm to 9am, and urged them to continue to adhere to it to protect their businesses.
“It happened in shops selling materials that are easily combustible and thanks to the cooperation to put off the fire before the arrival of the fire service personnel,” he added.
The chairman of the market’s Gamzaki Traders Association, Alhaji Ali Kachalla, who took the government officials round affected shops, explained that the inferno happened in the morning.
