Fire destroyed goods worth over N40 million at the Potiskum market in Yobe.
Nasiru Mato, the market’s chairman of the traders association, disclosed this on Tuesday.
He said the incident occurred on Sunday at about 8:00 p.m. and lasted for over three hours.
Mr Mato said the fire destroyed over 80 shops filled with bicycles, used clothes and yams.
The chairman said that although the fire’s cause was yet to be determined, it had no links with electricity.
“It has no link with electricity because we usually disconnect the source of electricity in the market during closing hours. But we suspect one of our guards may have lit the fire to stay warm due to the cold weather,” he said.
Mr Mato said the state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) had visited the market and promised to support those that lost their valuables and appealed to the state government to provide fire engines in the market to forestall future occurrences.
“If there was a fire fighting vehicle attached to this market, the damage would have been minimised. Immediately the fire started, we reached out to firefighters in Potiskum and Nengere. Unfortunately, all their fire engines had broken down,” he said.
