A Tuesday midnight inferno has once again engulfed a large portion of the Jos main market, leaving behind ashes and rubbles of more than 500 shops.
Traders said they lost about one billion naira.
The chairman of the market, Alhaji Mustapha Ibrahim, stated while fielding questions from newsmen, in Jos that: “We have lost more than 500 shops, even though we are yet to finish with evaluation of capital loss, but I can confirm that more than N900 million worth of goods have been lost.”
The chairman appealed to the state government to allow the marketers to clear off the burnt areas and get back to businesses.
An eyewitness and also a first aid worker with Jama’atu Nasril Islam, Plateau state chapter, Malam Aliyu Gudus, said the fire started some minutes to 11:00pm Tuesday night.
“As a close neighbour of the market, we saw flames coming out from the market, we thought it was the Yankwalle market, but when we rushed to the site, we discovered that it was the main market.
“We saw the mosque on fire from where it spread to other sides. We are not allowed to get in by the security men, but as some shop owners arrived, we were allowed to get in and support them,” he stated.
Malam Ali said as they put in their best to put off the fire, there was no presence of a fire service until around 1:00am when one truck of the Federal Fire Service came from Bukuru. The fire continued till about 4:00am,” he said.
A trader, Usman Hassan, whose shop was burnt, said the cause of the fire still remained unknown.
“I was at home around 12:am when a friend who was also affected by the fire, told me of the incident. I rushed out, but I found my shop already burnt. I made huge loss and there is nothing left me,” he said.