By Henry Okonkwo

These are not the best of times, and would surely be a sour yuletide for some traders at the Lagos International Trade complex located along Badagry Expressway. This is because of a fire outbreak that destroyed goods and property worth over 100 million naira yesterday morning.

The inferno Sunday Sun gathered raged on for an hour affecting the Association of Progressive Traders (APT) Article Line, Block One section of the complex.

According eyewitnesses, the fire which started at about 3am, was ignited from the seething heat emanating from an incinerator sparked off fire from a nearby truck said to be fully loaded with perfumes and other combustible goods. The fully loaded truck was billed to travel to Onitsha before it caught fire. The conflagration then further razed more goods and some nearby shops till the intervention of the officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA).  

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The fire reportedly took close to 20 hours before it was put off, because it was fuelled by many inflammable materials like perfume, hair products, fire crackers, gas cylinders, vehicle parts and other combustible items.

One of the affected traders that identified himself as Darlington told newsmen that he lost goods worth 10 million Naira, plus N500, 000 Naira cash. He disclosed that he sells local and imported perfumes and is still in shock at his loss. “I just don’t know where to start from,” he cried to newsmen.

Other infuriated traders while also counting loses lampooned their market union leadership accusing them of negligence and poor environmental practices. However, C.N Okosa a former secretary of the APT absolved the union off the blames. According to him the inferno was caused because of improper way the inflammable materials were packed inside the truck.