Fire gutted old Panteka Market in Kaduna state last week Friday, destroying several shops and affecting over 5,000 traders and workers in the process. In this report, ABDULRAHEEM AODU found out that over 10,000 youths who were variously engaged in the several cottage industries in the market, have been made redundant by the inferno.
How the fire started
The fire incident which engulfed old Panteka market, which is located near the main campus of Kaduna Polytechnic, started early Friday morning around 2:00am. According to the Executive Chairman of Old Panteka Market Association, Alhaji Suleiman Shehu, some traders immediately called the Kaduna state Fire Service when they learnt of the incident but the firemen complained that they didn’t have water in their tankers.
However, officials of the service helped to coordinate other fire services within Kaduna town who came to the rescue. Specifically, fire fighters from Kaduna State University, 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna Polytechnic and a private company, Dialogue, stopped the fire from spreading, Alhaji Suleiman said.
Similarly, the Chairman of Panteka Ifelodun Timber Sellers Association, Mr. Moshood Olabode, said that the inferno started from his members’ area and that before the last Friday incident, there have been few fire outbreaks in previous years but nothing was as big as this one.
Malam Rabiu, one of the affected traders, said when the fire incident started at around 1:00am, sympathizers who saw smoke rising from the market rushed out of their apartments to assist in putting off the fire before it escalated. However, the security men on duty were afraid that thieves could hide among the sympathizers and use the opportunity to loot the shops.
For this reason, all the sympathizers were restrained and the fire spread. Another victim of the fire incident, Mr. Tunde Gabriel blamed the nonchalant attitude of the fire service for not responding to their calls immediately. According to him, ‘’when they came around they only come with one truck and that could not help the situation and that is why we found ourselves in this situation.”
The worst affected
The worst hit , according to Blueprint Weekend’s findings, were traders of timbers, woods, building materials, painting materials, aluminum fabricators and carpenters.
In its wake, the inferno destroyed over 850 shops in 12 of the 38 zones and affected thousands of people in the market. Arguably, the market hosts some of the largest cottage industries in the north, as virtually everything is being fabricated out of plastics, metals, polythene and woods at the old panteka market. According to reports, the market engages about 30,000 youths in various vocational and fabrication skills, while some others are involved in buying and selling of the fabricated items.
Counting the losses
Quantifying his members’ losses, Chairman Sulaiman said that “we have 38 zones in the market out of which 12 zones were affected by the fire incident. According to him, roughly 700 shops were 100% burnt and about 150 shops were partly affected. He told our correspondent that market officials ‘’cannot estimate the cost of goods and properties lost as only the victims know what they lost, and there were traders who lost liquid cash to the fire, cash that was burnt by the fire. Over 100 trailer loads of wood got burnt, as well as a Canter truck, there are machines, cutting machines and other materials that got burnt.”
Speaking further, Chairman of the Yoruba section of Wood Sellers Association, Mr Olabode also said over 500 of his members were affected by the inferno. Moshood, who is also a victim, further explained that the fire consumed over 100 trailers of wood in the unfortunate incident. “We lost close to N1 billion to the fire incident. I have lost wood worth over N2 million to this fire incident, ‘’ he told Blueprint Weekend.
Market leaders appeal for support
Earlier, Deputy governor of Kaduna state, Arch Barnabas Bantex, had visited and commiserated with the victims on behalf of the state government, as Governor Nasir El Rufai was in Abuja when the fire outbreak occurred.
The governor, in company of senior government officials, also went to the burnt market to commiserate with traders when he returned to Kaduna. He assured them that government will investigate the cause of the fire incident and seek ways to avoid a recurrence. The governor prayed to Almighty God to restore all that the traders lost in the fire incident.
Although the traders lauded El Rufai’s prompt response, leaders of the market are nonetheless asking for help in order to help resettle the victims. In their appeal, the chairman of Panteka traders also asked members of the National Assembly and Kaduna State House of Assembly, philanthropists and other stakeholders to give them some succor.
By so doing, the teeming youths that were eking out a living from the market will not be rendered redundant. According to the chairman, the old Panteka market is a poverty alleviation centre, where thousands of youths are engaged in different skills. ‘’We have over 30,000 youth fully engaged in the market, most of whom have been affected by the fire incident,’’ he further said. Alhaji Suleiman then called on both state and federal governments, including relevant agencies, to support the victims. Doing that, he pointed out, will avert what could be a time bomb.
Resorting to self help efforts
Before the succor arrives, the market leaders have started rebuilding the market. Right now, they have constituted a committee to probe the cause of the fire, ascertain the worth of properties destroyed and take steps to forestall a recurrence.
According to Alhaji Abubakar Musa, the deputy chairman of market association, ‘’we have constituted a committee headed by the chairman of Old Panteka Market Association and all the zonal heads affected as well as stakeholders and advisers who are members of the committee. The primary assignment of the committee is to look at the remote cause of the fire, how to prevent future occurrence, determine the total number of shops affected and total number of victims and the cost of materials and goods burnt.’’
Possible cause of fire
As yet, there are conflicting reports about what led to the Panteka market inferno. Some people blamed it on power surge, as some electrical appliances that were still in sockets got blown off when electricity was resorted in the area at night. However, some attributed the cause to the securitymen that were guarding the market.
According to them, the security were warming themselves with fire in order to fend off the harmattan cold but somehow they forgot the embers which grew bigger when they came in contact with saw dust. ‘’The fire got out of control from them,’’ a source who does not want to be mentioned had alleged. Whatever it is, only a thorough investigation will unearth the truth. Meanwhile, the victims have started picking the pieces as they try to rebuild their businesses.
