By Ghazali Ibrahim
A fire outbreak has destroyed shops and goods worth millions of naira at a popular building materials market in Jabi, Abuja.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at a plaza opposite Chida Hotel, with traders and residents reportedly alerted to the fire around 3am.
An eyewitness who spoke to the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) said his brother-in-law was alerted by a colleague that the plaza was on fire.
He said they immediately rushed to the scene but met the fire had already spread extensively.
According to him, his brother-in-law owns two shops and a packing store within the affected plaza. While one of the shops was spared, the other shop and the packing store were completely destroyed.
He estimated the value of roofing materials lost in the fire at more than N20 million, adding that some of the affected materials had only been restocked the previous night.
“We are talking about a roof that is worth over N20 million lost in this fire,” the eyewitness said.
Despite the heavy losses recorded by traders, he expressed gratitude that no life was lost in the incident.
The cause of the fire was yet to be established as of the time of filing this report.
