Nnewi Timber Market Fire: Ifeanyi Ubah Intervenes as Traders Lose N3bn

The Chairman of Capi­tal Oil and Gas Indus­tries Limited, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, on Thursday mobilised resources and equipment to assist firefighters to douse the midnight inferno at the Nnewi Timber Market in Nnewi North Local Government Area of An­ambra State.
Ubah, who is the Publisher of The AUTHORITY Newspa­pers, upon getting wind of the fire incident, released six water trucks to assist firemen check the fire disaster.

Traders and other stake­holders said that but for his in­tervention, the situation would have been worse.
About five traders, who re­ported to the market on Thurs­day morning to meet their shops burnt, collapsed on the spot. They were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were allegedly resuscitated.
It was learnt that goods worth N3 billion were de­stroyed in the inferno.
The Chairman of the Nne­wi Timber Dealers Association, Chief Chukwunonso Nnetu, said that a security man in the market alerted him a few min­utes past midnight on the in­cident.
Nnetu said that he contact­ed the Awka, Nnewi and Onit­sha fire service stations, noting that when the Nnewi firemen later arrived, “the fire had reached an advanced stage.”
As at press time, he said the source of the fire outbreak was not known. No life was howev­er lost.
He said that about 155 shops were razed, 500 sawing and curving machines which cost is above N2 million each were destroyed; large quantities of woods and planks, among other items were all lost to the fire.
Nnetu said that the traders lost over N1.5 billion to the in­ferno, adding that a similar fire incident occurred in the mar­ket 15 years ago.
But other traders in the market said that they lost goods worth N3 biilion in the fire dis­aster.
The secretary of the market association, Mr. Jude Ugwu, said that the fire affected pro­cessing machines in the market.
A security man, Mr. Chi­di Eke, said that he suddenly saw a raging fire with billow of smoke from the southern end of the market and joined other se­curity men to use water from a borehole to put out the fire but was beyond their control before he alerted the market associa­tion chairman.
The leadership of the mar­ket appealed to Governor Willie Obiano and other public spir­ited individuals and organi­sations to help them as their source of livelihood had been destroyed.
Meanwhile, a firefighter who did not want his name in print, said that his office was not contacted on time as the securi­ty men and the market officials were struggling to put out the fight before it degenerated into an inferno.
Mr. Chukwudi Onyejekwe, a director in the State Emer­gency Management Agency (SEMA), described the inci­dent as a “painful and a bizarre situation.”
“As you can see, the fire fighters are still battling with the fire since 1 am. The agency will later ascertain the remote cause of the fire.
“We will assist the traders by pleading with the state and federal governments to come to their rescue through the Na­tional Emergency Management Agency (NEMA),” Onyejekwe said.
The State Deputy Commis­sioner of Police for Operations, Mr. Johnson Kokuko, said no life was lost and no one was ar­rested during the disaster.
Kokumo said: “Immediately we got the information, we cor­doned off the area to ensure that hoodlums did not take advan­tage of the situation.”