Up in flames: Weighed down by their losses

Traders and small business outfit owners bemoan their fate as fire destroys millions of naira worth of goods and property at a Lagos community, writes JULIANA FRANCIS

“I was sleeping when my phone rang. I picked the phone and someone said my shop was on fire. I jumped out of bed and wanted to head for Iyana-Ipaja, to take a bus to my shop. Someone stopped me. The person pointed out that I was naked. I did not know that I had not put on my clothes. “All I could think of was my shop. When I got there, everywhere was on fire. I struggled and opened my shop. Fire roared, bottles shattered and got into my eyes. I was rushed to the hospital. I lost everything. I’m still in shock."

This was the lamentation of Mrs Joy Samuel, a mother of five. The single parent said she lost everything in the early morning inferno which consumed 52 shops at Iba Junction, Iba Drive, Lagos State, on April 10. The shops were burnt to the ground and nothing was recovered. Goods, instruments, money and other valuables were gone like a puff. The fire razed the shops on a Friday and by the time owners got there, many collapsed.
While others were rushed to the hospital, a distraught trader, who lost every hope of raising funds to restart his business, slipped inside the gutter. A woman, who runs a restaurant, Mrs Samuel, said one of her daughters, an apprentice in a hairdressing salon, was preparing for her graduation. The woman had bought hairdryer and other vital items for the lady to start life immediately after the graduation. She kept those items in the shop. They also got burnt. When her daughter heard, she fainted and was hospitalised. Since the beginning of this year, fire has razed homes and killed many Nigerians. Fire in Nigeria is usually caused by either gas/fuel explosion or a surge in electric supply.
At other times, it remains mysterious, with the cause unknown. In the case of the Iba Junction fire, the traders were screaming arson. The fire started from the middle of the long lines of shops, specifically from the shop of a furniture maker. “Someone set our shops on fire, but we do not know who or why. The fire started around 1am, while everyone was asleep. There was no power supply, so nobody should say it was a power surge. The power was supplied around 6am, after the fire had gutted everything,” one of the traders said. Some of the traders felt that some of the shops would have been saved and the fire stopped from spreading, if firefighters had responded immediately they got to the scene. Rather, they wasted time, asking a frantic trader if she used to pay her tax. And almost all of the fire units assembled there did not have water. One that had water came with half a tank, which was exhausted in a few minutes.
According to them, real action did not start until a lone fire tanker crawled from Orile area to the scene, loaded with water. Alas, by the time it arrived, the shops were nothing but a roaring fire. Many of them recounted their losses with tears, anger and despair. An angry Lotanna Ndubuizu said: “I got here by 4am. I noticed two fire engines. I asked why they were just waiting, doing nothing, while the fire continued to ravage our shops. One of them told me there was no water in their tank.
They said I should wait, that another tank was coming and they just stood there! When they came, the fire had not even spread. They were asking us where they could get water.” Another trader, Mrs Antonia Ajumobi, recalled her experience. She said: “When I came, I saw them standing, I said they should start before the fire spread, but one of them asked me if I used to pay my tax. His partner cautioned him. I fetched water myself, trying to stop the fire. A fire engine later came from Orile. They said we should assist them to draw the hose, we did, but it was too late. Everything was gone. I am just fed up.” On his part, Mr Babatunde Fasanya, said the traders stood helplessly with the firefighters. He said: “We were watching as my life seemed to get burnt, watching as shops and businesses die.”
Fasanya, an engine oil seller, said he had just bought six drums of engine oil a day before the incident. He reckoned that he lost about N350,000 to the inferno. Alhaji Abass Ayodele, a surveyor, said that he lost valuable documents that had to deal with clients and landed property in the fire. Some of the burnt documents may lead to loss of millions of naira, he added. He said: “I got the call around 3am that my shop was on fire. Some of my friends living around there wanted to know if I used to keep the key nearby, so that they could recover some things for me, that the fire had only consumed five shops. “I live at Egbe. By the time I got there, the fire had consumed everything.
I heard they attempted to break open my shop, but it was futile.” Ayodele is worried about documents that had to do with ministry, perimeter fencing, and agreement among others. He added: “I have plans that have to do with plots of land that were yet to be collected. The Idelegbede Royal family is my client. I have 320 plots of their survey. There is also Owoyele community land in Ogun State. Their perimeter fencing is 100 acres and I have 100 plots there that belong to me.” Ayodele also said that he had been using one of the shops as office for almost 20 years. He said that his entire survey instruments lost in the fire worth about N1.2 million. Mr Tunde Ogundele, a plumber, said that he lost his drilling machine, machines used for drilling and survey pumps. He said: “I also have some materials I just bought for clients.
I wanted to use those materials for clients on that Friday. I bought the items on Thursday before I left for home. Since the incident, we have all been crying.” Mr Yekini Mutiu Olawale, a paint seller, said that although he lived nearby and got to the scene within five minutes after receiving the call that his shop was on fire, he still could not save anything. He said: “I lost about N150 million. Since that Friday, I had not been able to eat. I’m still in shock. At home today, I gave my wife just N100 to buy pap.
I’m selling that burnt aluminium to get money to buy food to eat.” Mrs Ismailahi Halimat, owner of Sunshine Photos, disclosed that she lost all her professional instruments. She said: “I live nearby. But it was around 3am I got the call that my shop was on fire. I left home and started running to the place. I was still far from the place when I saw the fire billowing into the darkness. “I tried to open my shop, but fire seemed to rush at me. All my work and instruments were gone.
I sell memory cards, foot wears and other things. As I’m here now, I don’t know what to do or how to begin afresh. I’m the one that keeps the money of my association. It also got burnt in the fire.” Mr. Sunday Ofor, who sells plumbing materials, said that what he would never forget in a hurry was that there was fire everywhere, whenever he looked. Ofor, who still looked dazed, said:“There was no power supply that fateful day. We believe the fire was the handiwork of some arsonists.
The persons started the fire around 1am. Everything in my shop burnt to ashes. I couldn’t recover a pin. I lost about N2 million worth of goods in that fire. “Right now, I don’t know what to do or how to start again. I have a wife who is not working and I have kids. I have been in this plumping material selling business for over 15 years. I just don’t know what to do now. We know somebody did it, but we don’t know who, which is why we have not reported to the police.” Mr Eugene Obiakor, a boutique owner, said he had been trading there since 2010, adding that he had never seen such destruction. He said: “I discovered everything in my boutique had been gutted by fire.
I have designer shirts and tops. I even have clothes for kids and sell different types of foot wears. I lost about N1.4 million. It could be more.” Onyebuchi Okafor, a provision shop owner, said he met his shop burning and witnessed the arrival of firefighters. According to him, the firefighters couldn’t save his shop because the fire was too much. Filled with despair, Okafor said he did not understand why bad things seemed to target him. He said his shop had once been robbed by criminals, who entered through the ceiling and cleared his shop. Okafor said he was just recovering from it when this fire incident happened. He added: “Right now, I need help. I have absolutely nothing left.
I lost N800,000 in that fire. Government should help us. Government should give us soft loans.” Olugbenga Adeniyi, 52, who operates a computer school and sells computer accessories, said he lost eight units of computer, seven laptops and more. According to him, he was so worried about the laptops and was intent on saving them, unmindful of the danger when he fell into the gutter. If not for the gutter, Adeniyi would probably have been roasted alive. He said: “It was the laptops that I was rushing to save, that I fell into gutter. People told me that the laptops did not worth my life. But how do I start? I have kids in school and soon it would be time to pay school fees. I’m not a young man.
“A woman, who had just rented shop here, fainted right away. She had not spent up to three weeks in the shop. You should have been here that day. People were crying and others were collapsing. I’m yet to get over my shock. “We don’t need to appeal to the government before they know they should assist us. This is a great tragedy. Government just needs to come to our aid. Money was burnt and instrument of businesses burnt too. We need government’s intervention. At this point, almost all of us need to start from the scratch. How do we get the money if not from the government?” On her part, Mrs Samuel said she did not know she was naked until someone grabbed her. She said: “I stocked my shop before that fire. I sell wines and drinks.
I run a restaurant. Due to the things I bought that Thursday, I got home with just N5. I have five kids and I’m the only person caring for them. “My daughter is right now in the hospital. I was also rushed to the hospital because broken bottle particles entered my eyes when I tried to go into my shop. I thought I could save something, anything. The doctor that removed the particles from my eyes didn’t collect money because I did not have money to pay.
“The food I eat this morning was bought for me by somebody. The way I am now, I will die if nobody comes to my aid. “How do I manage with five kids? Please somebody should help me in the name of God.” Tears, which filled her eyes, streamed down her cheeks. Mr and Mrs Peter Fasanya, a couple operating a fashion designing business, said they lost some expensive sewing machines. Mr Fasanya said: “I sell male clothes, while my wife sews female clothes. My wife used to keep money contributed by others in the shop.
The money went with the fire. “We lost seven straight sewing machines, three industrial machines, two buttonhole machines, pressing button machines and China Ankara and other clothes which my wife sells. “We live at Oke-Ofo, Badagry area, by the time we got here, everything was gone! We even met firefighters here.”