The Nation Newspaper

Tag: shops

  • Multi-million naira goods gone in Anambra as fire razes 150 shops

    IT was all tales of woe yesterday from owners of 150 shops at the electronics section of Ekwulobia Main Market, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

    They lost goods worth more than N500 million to an early morning fire that ravaged their stalls. The cause of the inferno was still unknown last night.

    The fire, which started at midnight, destroyed more than 150 electronics and general wares shops, throwing victims and their patrons in Oko and Umunze into mourning.

    When The Nation visited the scene by 4:30pm yesterday, rescuers were seen battling to retrieve wares and leftovers of electronic appliances from the affected shops. Smoke was billowing from the scene.

    The fire, according to eye witnesses, could have been put out before the havoc, if the Fire Service at Ekwulobia had responded to a distress call.

    Rather than swing into action when they arrived at the scene, the fire fighters allegedly scolded those who called them.

    According to the source, the Divisional Police Office (DPO) at Ekwulobia was forced to alert the Fire Service at Awka, but the damage had been done before the arrival of the fire fighters from the state capital.

    The President-General, Ekwulobia Traders Allied workers Association, Ikechukwu Ezeokeke, and the Chairman of the Electronics section, Frank Timothy, lamented the huge loss incurred by their members.

    They criticised the response of the firemen, saying the inferno was too intense for private tankers and other volunteers to contain.

    One of the victims – John Samuel Chetachukwu – looked hopeless at the scene yesterday.

    He said: “I am a confused person now and I can’t answer your questions. My shop got burnt completely. I was in my house when the youths came to bring me to this place around 4am. When I saw the inferno, I was dumbfounded. Although I lost everything, but I thank everybody, including the DPO Ekwulobia and many others, for rallying round us.

    “I deal in bearings, generators, Dolmar parts, complete engines and the worst is that all of us in this market just restocked our shops before the inferno. I am not ok now and my mind is not settled. But what can I do since I am alive? My neighbour, Edozie Ezeokafor, too went to restock. In fact, all of us here lost all we laboured for many years but there is God……‘’

    Another victim, Kingsley Osedume, said he could not salvage a pin and that his shop was the only source of income for the extended family. He called for help.

    Richard Okoli, who deals in interior decoration, had just restocked with over N600, 000. He lost everything.

    Council chair Titus Anigbogu consoled the traders and promised to table their matter before the state government and Governor Peter Obi.

  • 45 shops, 25 homes burnt in Ibadan

    45 shops, 25 homes burnt in Ibadan

    The week began yesterday on a sad note for residents of Ode-Olo, Inalende and Omitowoyin in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    Properties worth several millions of naira were lost as 25 houses and 45 shops were razed when a fuel-laden tanker spilled its content.

    Scores of residents were still missing as at the time of filling this report last night.

    The fire began at about 6.20pm.

    An eye witness said no fewer than 80 tenants were rendered homeless.

    The tanker fell on its side when the driver, who against advice, chose to ply a neighbourhood road under construction.

    It was learnt that the content spilled on St. Stephen Primary School junction, where a food vendor was cooking.

    The National Emergency Management (NEMA), through its Southwest information officer, Ibrahim Fariwoye, blamed the incumbent on the obstinacy of the driver.

    He said: “The PMS tanker fell near residential buildings and close to a woman cooking. Presently (last night), 25 houses and 42 shops have been burnt.

    “Fire fighting operations are ongoing and the details of casualties cannot be ascertained as it is dark. Search and recovery will start as soon as the fire is brought under control by firemen.”

    A resident, who identified herself as Iya Kafaya wailed uncontrollably. She was said to have lost everything to the fire.

    Many of the residents shouted aloud to ensure that their members were not trapped inside the burning houses.

     

  • Fed Govt shops for venture fund manager

    With initial seed fund of N500 million made available by the Federal Government as part of the $15 million Technology Venture Capital Fund needed to grow the nation’s local software sector through incubation programme, the government said it is searching for reputable venture fund manager to manage the fund.

    Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the N500 million seeded through the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) is expected to attract the remaining $12 million from private individuals and investors locally and internationally.

    She said, “The Federal Government has allocated N500milion to the fund. We are looking for fund managers to raise the remaining. We are not only looking for institutional investors but also individual investors,” Omobola said, adding that telecoms operators are not barred from funding the venture capital.

    According to her, as part of efforts to grow the software sub-sector of the ICT industry and make it contribute substantially to the gross domestic product (GDP) the government came up with the idea of setting up incubation centres with the pilot project located in Lagos and Calabar, Cross River State capital.

    Johnson said the e-Learning Centre would host the software incubation centre in Lagos while Tinapa Knowledge City would house the Cross River State innovation centre.

    Rather than being government-owned, the minister said the innovation centres would be ‘government-inspired’ or ‘government- catalysed’ but would eventually be run by a non-profit organisation to be set up soon.

    She assured that the Federal Government would initially provide the enabling environment for the proper take off of the incubation centres and later step aside and allow the centres to have lives of their own.

    Specifically, the minister said the software incubation programme would initially be government-funded with the aim of attracting more investors in the long run.

    Shedding more light on the programme, Ms. Helen Anatogo, programme manager in charge of the implementation of the software incubation programme, in a presentation, disclosed that the Federal Goverment planned to have established six incubation software incubation centres by the end of 2015.

    Abeokuta, Enugu, Ife and Abuja have been chosen as potential centres for the establishment of incubation centres in the country. The choice is based on parameters like presence of large students and availability of tertiary institutions in the areas.

    The focus of the software incubation programme and centres, according to her, include enterprise software development, linguistic software, custom programming, mobile software, business intelligence and gaming.

    Essentially targeted at students, start-ups and software development companies, the programme would offer business and technological training, access to software development tools at no cost, use of facilities and computer resources for development purposes, mentoring, assistance with marketing and promotion, as well as access to finance.

     

  • Fire razes 50 shops in Ibadan

    Fire razes 50 shops in Ibadan

    No fewer than 50 shops were razed at the building materials section of Ogunpa market, Ibadan, on Wednesday evening.

    Eyewitnesses said the fire started around 7.30pm and raged for hours, destroying about 50 shops and the wares therein.

    The fire, according to them, was ignited by a loud explosion from one of the shops within the clustered area.

    It is believed that the fire started from some of the shops where wares such as gun powder and other combustible items are sold.

    Though the fire was put out by fire fighters last night, the burning continued slowly till Thursday afternoon when fire fighters were recalled to tackle the remnant.

    The Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Lowo Obisesan, conveyed Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s sympathy to the victims.

    His aide, Mr. Muyiwa Olaore, who represented him during the visit to the market on Thursday, said that government has barred further trading in the disaster area until renovation is completed.

    The reason, he explained, was to prevent a situation where the weak buildings would collapse on the traders.

    Victims cried uncontrollably, lamenting their huge loss in the inferno.

    One of the victims, Ibraheem Iyiola, said that he lost about N2 million to the fire.

    He said: “We had closed for the day around 6pm. It was almost 8pm when a friend called to inform me of the incident. But before I could get here about an hour later, it was too late to save anything. The fire had caught the ceiling and it fell on my wares. I could not save anything.”

     

  • Fire razes eight shops, six homes in Calabar

    About eight shops and six residential buildings on Nelson Mandela Road by Target Street in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, were yesterday razed.

    Also affected was a law chamber.

    A member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Ifeanyi Uche, almost got electrocuted while helping to put out the fire.

    An eyewitness said the fire started from a beauty salon at about 4:30am.

    It was reportedly caused by a power surge.

    Attempts to forcibly open the shop to curb the fire failed because of its burglary proof door.

    When men of the State Fire Service arrived two hours later and did not have enough water to stop the fire.

    It was learnt that the owners of other shops tried to stop the fire from spreading.

    Uche, who was helping to remove items from the shops, got an electric shock when he touched the iron rod on a door.

    An eyewitness said: “Fire started from the salon and entered the electrical shops. We tried to call the fire service, but there was no response. A driver went to their office, but when they came here, they could not stop the fire. They said water had finished.”

    Chief Onyekachi Agu, whose shop was burnt, said: “I had over N4 million worth of goods in the shop and N110,000 cash.

    “I just came back from the market on Friday. I urge the government to assist me financially. I do not know where to start from. All my grinding and petrol engines and electricity generating sets are burnt. Nothing was salvaged.”

    Mr. Remi Agwuzie, whose law chamber and his wife’s shop were burnt, said: “I got a call that my office and my wife’s shop were burning and rushed down. When I got there, men of the State Fire Service had arrived but could not do much.

    “I was able to retrieve a few files from my office and some goods from my wife’s shop. Some people could not remove a pin. I was lucky that I could save some of my vital documents, especially my school certificates.”

    Director of the State Fire Service Mr. Sylvester Duke said his office was informed of the incident late.

    Duke said and he went to the scene, but the Fire Station at Mary Slessor did not have a fire engine and depended on the Quick Intervention Squad (QIS).

    He said the vehicle the QIS came with developed a fault and he rushed to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which came to the rescue.

    Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Mr. Vincent Aqua, who spoke through the Assistant Director, Mr. David Akate, said 12 persons have been displaced by the fire.

    He said six residential buildings and eight shops were burnt.