The Borno state governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is expected in Maiduguri, the state capital for a sympathy visit over the fire disaster at the Monday Market, Maiduguri. The president is expected to visit the scene Thursday.
Zulum, who described the incident as huge and devastating to the traders, had after his first visit announced an emergency relief fund of N1bn to provide urgent support to victims, pending assessment of the incident.
“The immediate intervention is to provide humanitarian support to the traders who have lost millions of naira,” he said.
He further stated that clearance of the market will begin after the presidential visit.
He said reconstruction of the market will commence while investigation into the cause of the fire will be ongoing.
Zulum also noted that government will look at the possibility of having a short and long term sustainable solution that will avert such crisis in the future.
The managing director of North East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Goni Mohammed Alkali, who was also on the governor’s entourage, said he has gone through the North East in the last three years but has never seen destruction of this nature.
“In all the 14 years of insurgency in the area, the fire incident is far more damaging. The commission will work with government to contribute its quota as quickly as possible. As a way of providing humanitarian aid, the commission will give 20 thousand bags of rice, 10 thousand cartons of spaghetti or macaroni and about 10 thousand gallons of oil to victims,” he said.
