Gyang Bere, Jos
Victims of the unfortunate fire disaster in Laranto Market Timber B, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State have continued to count their losses. Most of them narrated their tales of woes as the total loss of properties in the market was put at N31 million.
The outbreak which occurred on Thursday, September 12, 2019, in the midnight left 40 shops destroyed with valuables such as timbers, drilling machines, sewing machines, turning machines and planning machines.
It was gathered that other valuables lost included desks belonging to some secondary schools in the state ahead of the resumption of new students. Sadly, the incident was the 17th time the market experienced fire outbreak since the market was established 40 years ago.
Among the victims is a 72-year-old carpenter, Alhaji Umar Sokoto, who has been in the market for about 25 years. Since then, he has continued to lose property each time there is fire disaster in the market. He confirmed that he lost property worth N1.5 million to the fire disaster:
“This is the 17th time fire has burnt this market. I am always a victim because each time that there is unfortunate fire incident, I will lose one property and the other in my shop.
“I have been in this market for a very long time, those who found the market have died, we came to meet them here and we have continued to experience fire outbreak in the market.
“I can’t say this is what actually cause the last fire disaster. But we woke up to realise that there was a fire outbreak in the market. Four of my shops were affected and I lost property worth N1.5 million.
“The market has had fire outbreak for about 17 times. Each of the sad incidents, I have lost my properties. I want to call on Plateau State Government to put an end to the fire disaster in the market.
“Most of us lost our shops and properties. We are helpless now, we pray that government will assist us to enable us pick up life again. Life has been very rough for us, some of us borrowed money to run their business, we will be grateful if government assist us.
“We are very happy that the governor sent the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof Danladi Atu, for need assessment of damages in the market. We hope that what is responsible for the fire outbreak will also be resolved.”
Surajo Yakubu, 30, who lost property worth N350, 000, begged government to assist them to reduce their current hardship. He said he is hopeless and helpless at the moment now that his shop was razed down by the fire disaster.
Governor Simon Lalong sympathised with the victims and gave them a lifeline. He directed SSG to assess the damage done by the disaster and praised God that life was not lost in the fire incident.
Atu, who lamented the huge loss caused by the inferno, commended the traders for not taking the law into their hands as a result of the incident: “This disaster that happened touched the entire economy of Plateau, not just the timber market. Government is with you and we will see how we can improve the condition of the market.”
He urged the traders to continue to keep the prevailing peace in spite of the hardship that they may be going through as a result of the fire. He also advised them to report to the police anything that might affect their peaceful coexistence.
Alhaji Aliyu Umar, chairman, Timber B Market, called on government to assist in building more permanent structures in the market to check incidences of fire outbreaks there.
He said provision of iron tents instead of the wood ones currently in the market, would curtail fire incidents.
He gave the breakdown of properties destroyed by the fire and said over N31 million worth of properties were lost to the incident: “The total number of shops in the market were 40 and 36 were affected and timbers worth N26 million were destroyed.
“Other items such as drilling machines, sewing machines, turning machines, planning machines worth N5 million were destroyed. Also, office equipment worth N950,00 were destroyed amount to N31,950,000 among several other items.” He requested government to assist the traders to enable them control the regulations of light in the market.