Goods estimated to be worth billions of naira were on Thursday consumed by a midnight fire that razed no fewer than 65 shops at Sabon-Gari Market, Kano State. Reports quoted one of the traders whose shops were burnt, Mallam Garba Abdullahi, as saying the fire was suspected to have started from a shop used as commercial charging points by mobile phone users.
“We are suspecting that the fire started from a commercial GSM phones charging point,” he said. The report said due to poor electricity supply, many mobile phone users in Nigeria often resorted to recharging their batteries with vendors who use power generators and charge money in return.
The Director of Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Balarabe Kabara, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that the incident, which occurred around 8:30 p.m. affected permanent and temporary structures. Kabara attributed the fire to negligence but said the agency would meet with the affected traders to ascertain what they lost individually.
“The main cause of the inferno is negligence because people are in the habit of playing with fire, especially now that it is harmattan period,” he said. Kabara advised the people to avoid unnecessary use of fire as any mistake could lead to disaster. He recalled that seven female students recently lost their lives in fire incidents in two secondary schools in the state and advised school authorities to ensure proper monitoring of students. Kabara also advised students to desist from cooking and using electrical appliances, especially water heater and pressing iron, in their hostels to avoid fire outbreaks. Agency report
