Billions Lost In Benin Auto Fire

By Ayodele Oluwafemi

Fire has razed down over 100 auto parts shops at the Uwelu auto parts market in Benin City in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State.

The inferno was said to have started around 11:45 pm on Monday and lasted till about 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

GWG learnt that it took the combined intervention of auto spare parts traders, sympathisers, firefighters from the University of Benin and the 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army to douse the fire.

The cause of the fire incident has not been ascertained at the time of filing this report as no one knows the cause of the inferno that engulfed the largest spare parts markets in Benin City.

GWG observed that the inferno razed down Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Ford and Toyota sections of the market with goods worth billions of naira were destroyed, an incident that would negatively affect the economic activities in the market.

Speaking with journalists, one of the shop owners who identified himself as, Festus Osaeruoname revealed that there was no power supply at the time, the fire incident occurred, wondering what might have caused the inferno.

He lamented: “We are yet to ascertain what actually happened the led to the fire. We could not remove anything from our shops.

“Many boys that just got freedom from their masters and opened their shops are yet to repay the loans they took from various banks.”

Addressing journalists, the chairman of the Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mr. Ibie Osaretin Augustine lamented that in the wake of the fire incident the market will keep experiencing low patronage as the adjoining roads leading to the market are in poor condition.

Augustine also revealed that the  four security guards employed by the traders were being questioned by the police, in order to ascertain what may have transpired in the midnight.

He also revealed that he received a distress call from an unknown person calling his attention to the fire incident, noting that when he called the attention of the security guards they claimed that it was someone burning items in one of the shops.

According to him, “When the security man told me somebody was burning something, I told him to check properly and he told me it was the line where my shop is located that was on fire.

“I called the Edo Fire Service but they did not come. The entire market would have been razed if fire men had not come from UNIBEN and the Nigerian Army.

“We beg the state government to rebuild the market because we are using loan from micro-finance bank,” he stated

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