Fire guts Balogun market: Traders at the famous Balogun market on Lagos Island wept on Sunday morning as fire destroyed their goods worth millions of naira.
The fire incident, which started around 11 am, from the plaza on 43, Martins Street, was said to have occurred shortly after a church service dismissed at a house located on the topmost floor of the structure.
NigeriaCrime.com gathered that the plaza had been engulfed by fire several times, has left shop owners and traders confused.
Many of the traders selling clothes and bags who were the most hit lamented that their goods worth millions were destroyed in the inferno. Some of them recently rented shops at the plaza which was reconstructed after the last fire outbreak in 2020.
Although the cause of the fire outbreak could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, who confirmed the incident said, “The agency’s responders alongside the Federal Fire Service, Lagos State Fire service, and UBA Fire Services are working together to put out the fire and prevent its spread to nearby buildings,” he said.
Although no life was lost in the inferno, the LASEMA boss stated that clothing materials stored in the shop were destroyed.
Oke-Osanyintolu added, “The Agency responded to distress calls concerning the above location and upon arrival at the scene, a shop on the top floor of a four-storey building was found to be gutted by fire.
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“Further information gathered revealed that clothing materials were stored inside the shop. Fortunately, there was no casualty involved in the incident.”
This is not the first time fire will be gutting the Balogun Market.
Earlier this year, the market was gutted by fire. Also in November 2019, 2020, and 2021, there were fire outbreaks in the same market with goods worth millions of naira destroyed in the process.