Shop Owners In Tears As Fire Razes Popular Shopping Plaza, Destroys Goods Worth Over N1bn In Owerri (Photo)

The plaza being engulfed by fire

A one-storey shopping plaza which had over 40 shops that sold computers, mobile phones and other electronics gadgets, in Owerri, capital of Imo State, was on Thursday, consumed by fire.

According to PUNCH Newspaper, the fire which razed the popular mall named Umuororonjo Shopping Plaza saw shop owners loose goods worth over N1 billion, though there was no recorded human causality recorded.

While speaking to a correspondent, an eye witness who lives opposite the mall said at the scene that the fire started at about 5.10am on Thursday, adding that all efforts to quench the fire failed.

He said, “We started seeing smoke from one of the shops on the first floor of the building. We raised the alarm and people started gathering immediately. All our manual efforts to use water and detergent to quench the fire did not succeed.”

The eye witness added that they called the hotline of the Fire Service in Owerri, but that their response was unimpressive. “We were there until 8am when more people, including passers-by, gathered, but by then, the inferno had gutted all the shops.”

Sampson Ochia, who is one of the shop owners that sells computer and its accessories, said he lost over N20m worth of goods.

Speaking in full of tears, he said that he recently secured a N15m loan the bank, using his undeveloped land at World Bank in New Owerri area as collateral. Hhe queried “Where do I go from here? What becomes my fate from today?”

Another victim, Clement Ajoku, said that he had over N50m worth of electronics in his shop. The 63-year-old who said that all his family members fed from the shop, contended that it is only God that can save him and family from the dastard situation.

He said, “What will I be doing now? My life has changed from worse to worst. How will I get money to re-start my business in this cantankerous Imo state and Nigeria at large. A business I started when I was 32 had gone”.

When contacted on phone, the Director of Fire Service Owerri, Japhat Okoroafor confirmed that he was called on phone by a group of people on the fire outbreak.

He said, “We have only one serviceable fire fighting vehicle in our office. That vehicle was used to fight a fire on Tuesday somewhere in Okigwe area, but it broke down during the return journey.

 

“Since then, I have written memos for its repair, but there has been no official response so far. Now that there is another emergency, there is no other fire fighting vehicle. In fact, the situation is helpless.”

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