Traders at the Timber Market in Rumuosi Community along the East-West Road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State were thrown into a state of agony on Sunday, January 1, 2023 when the market as razed by fire.
New Year day is a day celebrated by everyone as the beginning of a new year in joyful mood and great moments with loved ones. But the situation for those who own shops in the Timber Market was one of deep shock and pain, as goods worth millions of naira were gutted by fire.
The fire which started by 9.00 am, was not contained due to fire fighters arriving late at the scene. According to witnesses even when they finally arrived they came with half tank of water which was not sufficient to put out the fire. It took the effort of residents in the neigbourhood to supply water to combat the monstrous fire..
National Point visited the scene of the fire and spoke with victims who were in tears, counting their losses.
“I’m Mrs. Blessing Aneke, a trader and I deal in building materials. My whole family and I were in church on Sunday, being January 1, 2023 to thank God for sparing our lives to see a brand new year and also commit the year 2023 into the hands of God.
“While in the church at about 9.00am, we received a call that the Timber Market is on fire and my shop is affected. We ran down to the scene.
They had broken my shop and everything has been burnt down and I am still at the scene counting my losses.
I sell tarpaulin, each cost N35,000 and I have many in the shop. I also sell Solignum and nails in large quantity. I lost goods worth over N8 million to the fire outbreak’.
Another victim, Confidence Josiah added, “This fateful day, I was called while I was at home preparing for the day that my shop is on fire, So, I rushed down to the shop to see things for myself. On getting to the scene, all the goods in the shop had been burnt to ashes. We deal on furnitures, drinks and money amounting to N300,000 kept in the shop, point of sale (POS) machine are all gutted by the inferno. Gods worth millions of naira was lost to the fire.
The aggrieved traders seized the medium to call on the governor of Rivers State, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, to come to their aid.
“We call on Governor Wike to come and save us from perishing. We recall when there was a similar fire incident in Sokoto State, the governor gave N500million. In Benue State, the governor extended the same gesture to cushion the effect and most recently, the governor gave N300million to the wives of Lagos State officials and several other monetary largesse to victims of incidents of this nature. Therefore, as tax payers in the State that have fallen in this circumstance, we plead with the governor to come to o
