The herbal medicine section of the Zamfara Central market has been gutted by fire, which destroyed at least 55 shops. The fire outbreak occurred in the early hours of Tuesday, six weeks after an inferno razed 103 shops at the market.
The cause of the latest fire, which started around 1am, could not be ascertained. One of the victims and chairman of the traders, Alhaji Sa’adu Dahiru, noted that about 55 shops were destroyed by the fire.
“The fire also destroyed some shops belonging to blouse and seasoning sellers,” he added.
While describing the outbreak as devastating, he said some traders had lost their means of livelihood.
“I know some of our members who lost everything. They have families and rely on this business to provide for them.
“There is one of our members who kept his N50,000 in the shop with the intention of taking it to the bank today (Tuesday), but the money was razed along with his goods.
“I am appealing to the state government to look into our plight and support us financially,” he said.
Another victim, Muhammad Kabiru, said he lost goods worth about N14 million to the inferno.
“But I take it as the will of Allah. It is a trial from God and we must endure it the way it is. I am only appealing to the state government to provide us with financial assistance. We are not asking for compensation, we are not asking for huge amount of money. We only need something to start again,” he said.
The managing director of the market, Alhaji Ahmad Salihu Shinkafi, said investigation was ongoing to know the real cause of the fire.
“From what we were told by some of the traders, it was ignited by a herb which does not resist excess heat. They said once there is excess heat, it can explode. But we are still investigating to know the actual cause of the fire,” he said.
On the measures taken by the management to forestall future outbreaks, he said they had banned use of fire within the market premises.
“That is why we don’t allow tea sellers, food sellers and other people who are using fire to come near the market. So only God knows what caused this inferno,” he added.
