A fire outbreak has razed 15 shops, destroyed goods worth millions of naira and left one person injured at the Oba Lipede Market, Kuto, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

No fewer than 15 shops with goods worth millions of naira were destroyed on Saturday at the market, due to a fire outbreak.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the inferno started at about 9:49 p.m. from one of the makeshift shops outside the market.

According to a witness, the fire outbreak followed a power surge in a palm kernel shop using gas.

PREMIUM TIMES also learnt that some of the goods destroyed in the inferno included bananas, rice, provisions, and pots, among other wares.

When our reporter visited the market on Sunday, traders were seen in groups weeping and lamenting their losses.

A couple, Basiru and Tolani Moses, had their shops located next to each other in the market, razed down by the fire.

Basiru said that N500,000 cash was burnt in the incident, while goods worth N1.5 million were affected.

He explained that the cash was kept in the shop for onward deposit at the bank on Monday.

The market leader, Tejumade Bakre, lamented that there was looting shortly after the incident but said the security agents later came to contain the situation.

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The state Commissioner for Special Duties, Funmi Efuwape; the director of Ogun State Emergency Management Agency (OGSEMA), Wale Sonde; the director of State Fire Service, Fatai Adefala; and the chairman of Abeokuta South Local Government, Omolaja Majekodunmi, were among early visitors to the market on Sunday to assess the situation.

Speaking on the incident, Mrs Efuwape said, “The fire outbreak was caused by these shanties erected outside the main market building. Now that they (traders) have seen it for themselves, I am sure when the government comes in and tells them that all these shanties must go, definitely, they will agree with us that they have to go.

“About ten shops were affected outside and five inside. The five would not have been affected if the ones outside were not there. The fire started from the illegal structures outside and erupted to the main building.”

Mrs Efuwape disclosed that the main market building will undergo an integrity test to ascertain its safety while the government will roll out measures to renovate the market.

The Fire Service chief, Mr Adefala, said, “We were called around 10:15 p.m, and our men got here on time, but the problem was that we could not access the market on time, so we had to go through the back to trace where it started from.

“It was caused by a power surge. There was a palm kernel shop that was doing some sort of recycling, and the guy was using gas. There was an outbreak of fire, and everything just exploded. That’s where it started from. Those are the chalets outside the main Lipede market.”