Fire guts Kano’s Sabon-Gari market again
Scene of the fire incident at Kano popular market in Sabon Gari yesterday Photo: Sani Maikatanga
Fire has gutted the famous Sabon-Gari market in Kano, also known as Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi, four months after it witnessed the biggest outbreak in the country. The inferno destroyed goods worth N2trillion.
It would be recalled that in March this year, almost 75 per cent of the market was completely destroyed in an inferno that lasted for several hours.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that yesterday’s fire started about 1:30am and affected a cluster of small scale traders, popularly known as open shops, located in the heart of the market. The affected traders are largely butchers, fish sellers, dealers of vegetable and other household items.
The Sarkin Kasuwa of the market, Alhaji Nafi’u Nuhu Indabo, said a total of 527 open shops, four normal shops and a good number of attachment stalls were affected in the inferno.
Some of the affected traders who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday said over 1,000 attachment shops were affected and items worth millions of naira completely razed.
Abdullahi Sani, a dealer in frozen fish, said items worth N20million were lost to the inferno. “I have lost everything to the fire. I don’t even know where to start again. Many traders lost their goods,” he said.
He said a colleague informed him of the incident about 2am, but by the time he arrived at the market, over 70 per cent of the section was already on fire; hence he could not remove his belongings.
“We largely conduct our businesses in temporary stalls made from woods. The woods greatly aided the fire. Also, there are traders who use petrol in grinding food condiments. That also helped to spread the fire,” he said.
Another affected trader, Sulaiman Ibrahim Maikifi, said the cause of the fire had not been ascertained because the local security man who was present when it started was rushed to the hospital as a result of the effect of the inferno.
“The security man who is in the best position to tell us the cause of the inferno was rushed to the hospital. Therefore, we have to wait for the report of the state fire service officials,” Maikifi said.
He said that as Muslims they had accepted the incident in good faith. “We have considered the inferno as part of destiny. We believe that this kind of thing can happen to anybody,” he added.
Muhammad Yunusa, a butcher also affected by the incident, told our reporter that they were thankful to God that the fire did not escalate to other sections of the market. He noted that if not for the quick response of the fire service, the damage would have been more devastating.
He said: “We are very lucky this time around that we have enough space for vehicular movement, otherwise the fire service vehicles wouldn’t have gained access to the market. Although I have counted my loss, I still thank the almighty God for stopping the fire from escalating to other shops.”
Yunusa appealed to the management of the market and the Kano State government to ensure that the access roads in the market are sustained so that whenever there is such incident, necessary action could be taken to address the situation.
Another trader, Alhaji Ibrahim Auwau Bachirawa, called on the government to allow them rebuild their burnt stalls and return to their businesses. He noted that each of the affected traders has his stall’s number while the management of the market has a comprehensive list of all the traders.
“We want the government to adopt the method it applied to the traders affected in the last fire outbreak, where each of them was allowed to rebuild his shop. We also want the government to give us the go-ahead to fix our stalls,” Bachirawa explained.
For Elizabeth Emmanuel who sells vegetables in the market, apart from her stall that was burnt down, she didn’t lose goods. “I did not lose my goods because we normally buy the vegetables in the morning, and the fire started in the night. Our major problem is that we have to wait till the place is cleared before we can start our businesses again.”
When contacted, the director of the Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Mustapha Rilwanu, said although his men were not informed on time, they were able to quench the fire within two hours.
“When we were called at 4:10am, we immediately deployed our men and vehicles to the scene. We requested for a re-enforcement of fire fighting vehicles from concerned authorities and got positive responses.
“Also, the Association of Water Tankers contributed a lot to the successes recorded in controlling the fire. They supplied adequate water to the scene of the incident, a gesture that helped us put the fire under control,” he explained.
The fire service boss said that 804 open shops were affected.
