The popular ancient Owode market in Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, North-Central Nigeria was razed by fire in the early hours of Tuesday.
Properties and goods worth about N360 million were said to have been destroyed in the inferno. It was also gathered that goods, especially foodstuff, charcoal and fairly used cloths, worth millions of naira, were lost to the inferno.
The fire outbreak which affected a section of the market started at about 2.00am and lasted for almost five hours before combined efforts of men of the federal and state fire services could put out the inferno.
It was gathered that about 50 shops were burnt in the inferno with minimal damage to the other 3,820 shops and 1,180 stands in the bustling commercial hub.
In a statement, Head of Media and Publicity of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, said that the fire was sparked by a dropped cigarette which ignited combustible materials.
He maintained that the value of commodities and properties salvaged by the firefighting efforts was estimated to exceed N12 billion, adding that the incident resulted in property losses amounting to N360 million.
The market leader, Iyaloja-General Offa, Idiat Jumoke, who commended the fire services for putting out the inferno on time before it could escalate to other sections of the market, called on the State Government to provide them with palliatives before rebuilding the stalls.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
