24th January, 2024
By Ahmed Abba
Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe has made a N100 million cash donation to the victims of Tuesday’s fire incident at the popular GSM Market in Damaturu, the state capital.
Buni announced the donation on Wednesday when he visited the market to sympathise with the victims.
The Governor also directed the Yobe Emergency Management Agency to assess the level of damage for possible intervention by the State Government.
While praying for Allah’s protection against future occurrences, Buni promised his administration’s commitment to continue to support the traders.
Goods estimated to be worth over N15O million were destroyed by fire at the GSM market, popularly called “Kasuwar Jagwal,” in Damaturu, Yobe.
Alhaji Ali Sheriff, the Chairman of the Damaturu Trader’s Association, told journalists that traders in the market lost goods worth N150 million.
He the fire might have been caused by an electrical fault.
“It was early this morning that I received a call about what was happening, and we quickly rushed to the scene.
“Then, there were about three shops that were on fire. The firefighters were there, but their water pump was faulty, so they could not put off the fire,” he explained.
Ali said that police personnel were also at the scene to assist and prevent the pilfering of traders’ goods by hoodlums.
Also, one Yahya Ngubdo, a trader of sorghum in the market, said traders in the commodity lost a total of 130 bags as a result of the incident.
He called on the state government and well-meaning individuals to come to the assistance of the affected traders and mitigate their losses.
The Public Relations Officer of the Yobe State Fire Service also said that no fewer than 30 shops were destroyed by the fire.
“At about 5:50 a.m. this morning, we received a distress call notifying us of the incident. A few minutes later, our team arrived the scene, but a lot of damage had already been done at the time,’’ he said.
Bello added that investigations revealed that the fire was caused by a surge in electricity supply to the area.
He advised members of the public to always switch off electrical appliances and unplug their cables from power sources before going to sleep or closing their shops for the day.
NAN