By Lukman Olabiyi

Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed as a result of fire outbreak at the Balogun Market in Lagos, yesterday.

A witness said the incident happened around 11am, but no life was lost.

Sodiq Babatunde, who was present when the fire gutted a five-storey building at Martin Street, said the inferno was caused by a breach of electrical wire. He said at the time the incident happened, a welder was working in front of the building to install a gate.

“I think the fire emanated from the source where the welding machine was connected. We tried our best to stop it, but the situation was bigger than us,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, who was also at the scene of the incident, confirmed that there were no casualties except for the goods that were destroyed.

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“When we got the information, the agency’s responders, alongside the Federal Fire Service, Lagos State Fire Service, and UBA Fire Service swiftly moved to the scene of the incident and, as you can see, we are in control of the situation,” he said.

However, Director, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, gave a contrary account for the cause of the fire outbreak.

She said: “From the information we got, the church service was ongoing in part of the building when the incident happened.

Initially, we are told that there was no electricity when church service was ongoing, but immediately when the electricity was restored, an attempt was made to switch over from the generator power supply, which resulted in a fire outbreak, but no life was lost,” she said.

As at 6:40pm, the inferno has been put off by combined effort of all the emergency service responders.

Earlier this year, the market was gutted by fire. Also, in November 2019, 2020, and 2021, there were fire outbreaks in the same market with goods worth millions of naira destroyed.