Main Market, Onitsha, is reputed to be the biggest market in West Africa, and hosts a large population of traders, who are mainly importers of goods, and deal in varied products.
A source, Mr Barth Ifediora, who raised alarm, said the fire broke out early morning of Tuesday, in a section of the market known as White House.
White House is the office of the leaders of the market, an expansive two-storey building and hosts several offices, halls for meetings in the first and second floor, while the ground floor hosts shops.
A source said: “The area mostly affected by the fire is the block of shops under the white house, where expensive lace materials are sold.”
When our correspondent went round sections of the market, some traders were seen struggling to save whatever wares they could save from their shops to avoid losing everything.
“I lost everything in my five shops,” Abubakar Isa, dealer of second-hand clothes told PUNCH Metro tearfully, adding, “I cannot immediately estimate the cost of my losses, but I can tell you that it is over N30m.”
Musa Sulaiman had two shops of home decoration items such as rugs and suitcases.
Musa Sulaiman had two shops of home decoration items such as rugs and suitcases.
“The two shops were all razed down, and I lost everything,” he told PUNCH Metro, estimating the cost of his losses at “nothing less than N50m.”
Alhaji Modu Kijimi lost one of his two shops of empty sacks. He was too emotionally devastated to estimate the cost of his losses.
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