Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed when a midnight fire swept through 12 shops at a shopping complex around Mandate Market in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The fire, which started shortly after midnight on Saturday, affected a section of the complex opposite Alkad Filling Station, which has about 40 shops.
Eyewitnesses who spoke to Daily Trust during a visit to the scene said the fire started from one of the shops before spreading to adjoining businesses.
One of the witnesses, Kolawole, said he had visited the shop from where the fire started shortly before it was locked for the night.
“I came to get some items when they were about to lock the shop. I can say I was the last person that bought something from them before they locked up,” he said.
He said about an hour after leaving, a colleague who was buying Indomie nearby from a kiosk operated by a Mai Sai suddenly noticed flames coming from the roof of the shop from a distance.
According to him, attempts by people around the complex to gain access to the affected shop were unsuccessful because of the intensity of the fire and the structure at the front of the premises.
“The canopy constructed at the front of the shop started to melt and entering such a place at the time was not easy and very risky,” he said.
He added that some people went to the rear of the complex and attempted to break into the shops but were stopped by iron bars.
The witness said the owners of the particular shop fainted after arriving at the scene and seeing the extent of the destruction.
He said firefighters eventually arrived at the scene, but several shops and their contents had already been extensively damaged.
He said items affected in the shop included solar equipment, refrigerators, freezers, electronics, phone accessories, POS services, supermarket goods and pay television services, among others.
“There was almost nothing you can’t get here, from solar, electronics appliances, phone accessories, POS, supermarket, pay TV dealer, just name it. It was a one stop shop,” he said.
The witness estimated the value of goods destroyed in the affected shops at between N30 million and N40 million, while suggesting that the fire could have originated from solar equipment.
However, the exact cause of the fire has not been established.
One of the affected traders, whose three shops were completely destroyed, said she was still struggling to comprehend the scale of her losses.
“I sell POP materials, paint the white cement and everything is gone completely,” she said.
Other affected businesses included shops dealing in animal feeds, dry cleaning services and other goods and services.
The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call over the incident and arrived at the scene at about 1:14am, by which time the fire had already engulfed parts of the complex.
It said two fire appliances were deployed to tackle the blaze, while personnel of the Federal Fire Service later joined the operation.
According to the spokesperson of the agency, Hassan Adekunle, the combined firefighting effort prevented the fire from spreading to other sections of the shopping complex and nearby properties.
The Fire Service attributed the extent of the damage partly to the late notification of the incident.
He said preliminary information indicated that a power surge might have triggered the fire, adding that some people who slept close to the affected area reported hearing a loud combustion sound shortly after electricity was restored.
The agency, however, said the actual cause remained subject to further investigation.
The Chief Fire Officer, Alabi Muhammed, thanked the firefighters and their Federal Fire Service counterparts for their response to the incident.
He urged business owners to ensure that electrical installations were handled by qualified professionals and that electrical appliances and power sources were properly monitored.
He also appealed to residents to report fire incidents immediately, saying early notification would give firefighters a better chance of containing outbreaks before they escalate.
