3 dead, 3,600 displaced as fire ravaged IDPs camp fire in Maiduguri

No fewer than three persons lost their lives and 3,600 other displaced in a fire incident in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Customs Area of Maiduguri.

Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, the Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), made this known to newsmen in Maiduguri on Wednesday.

Kolo said that the incident, which occurred on Tuesday also affected food items.
She explained that the first incident occurred very early in the morning, while the second incident occurred in the afternoon at about 2 p.m., razing down about 600 shelters.

She said that this might have stemmed from a cooking fire that grew out of control in one of the tents.

She expressed concern about what she described as recurring fire incident in camps which had affected many families.

“We recorded such incidences in Gajiram where 338 households were affected,” Kolo said.

She said that the agency and other key partners had adopted a proactive modality to mitigate recurrence of such incidences, through advocacy and sensitisation in the camps.

Kolo said that the agency and other partners would provide food and non food items to the affected families to alleviate their sufferings.