No fewer than 1000 shops were destroyed by fire on Friday at the popular Pantaker building materials market in Kaduna State.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire started from an electrical spark from one of the shops and later spread to the entire market, destroying properties worth millions of naira.
Although no life was lost, owners of the affected shops who were taken by surprise by the inferno counted their losses to fire.
The traders also lamented that the late arrival of men of the fire service supposedly worsened the situation.
Chairman of the market traders’ association, Ibrahim Dauda, told newsmen that it was not the first time such incident would occur in their market.
He, however, called on the state government to come to their aid and help rebuild the burnt market.
Meanwhile, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had visited the scene of the incident to assess the level of damage done to the market.
