Properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed following a fire outbreak at the popular GSM village situated around Kpata market in Lokoja the Kogi State capital.
Our correspondent who visited the scene of the incident, gathered that the fire outbreak started in the early hours of Thursday due to a power upsurge.
Most of the shop owners lamented that they could not salvage anything from the fire, because of the intensity of the fire.
One of the traders in the market, Muhammed Yahaya, who lost his goods to the fire narrated the incident.
“Somebody called me around 5:30 am today that the market is on fire. On getting there, many shops have already been burnt down,” Yahaya said.
“So we tried to look at the actual cause of the fire outbreak. From all indications so far, we were told by the people living around the area that the power voltage they brought was high.
“The neighboring houses there said it affected their fans, light, and other things. This might be the cause of the fire outbreak in the market. Millions of naira worth of goods have been destroyed. Laptops, phones, and accessories got burnt.
“The most unfortunate thing is that most of these people just received their goods this week. It has never happened before. It is still a big shock to every one of us who own a shop in the market.”
He appealed to the Kogi State Government to intervene by assisting those who lost their goods financially in rebuilding the GSM village and also interrogating the AEDC
“We know we have a Governor that has listening ears. He is a father to us. As you can see, we are Youths who are resourceful. Most of us are graduates, and we are not waiting for the Government to provide jobs for us. We created the jobs on our own.
“The properties that we have been nurturing for over 15 years got burnt within hours. We want the government to look into it by assisting us financially and rebuilding the market. In this market, we have about 200 Youths who are engaged in this kind of business. People were hungry before this happened.”
Speaking also, the Financial Secretary, Kogi Association of Phones and Accessories Dealers, (KAPAD) Moses Felix said the incident affected him physically, mentally, and emotionally.
According to him “I was crying this morning when my shop got burnt. I couldn’t do anything. I am into laptop repairs and sales. My goods that arrived this week got burnt completely, so I am starting from scratch.
“I am a married Man with kids. Where do I go from here and how can I feed my family amid this economic hardship? The Government should come to our aid. We provide jobs for people. I have like three boys that are working for me and are under my payroll. They are going back home without a job.”
As of the time of filing this report, fire service officials were working to put out the fire.
