Enugu Traders Count Losses As Fire Wreaks Havoc

Many traders at the Eke Obinagu market in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu state lose millions of naira at the beginning of each year to strange fire incidents, and this year is not an? exception.? The? only difference is that the inferno that engulfed the market on the eve of the nation-wide fuel subsidy strike and street protests, not only affected most parts of the market, but rendered more traders penniless than ever before, reports MIKE UBANI.

On completion of the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), programme in Kwara state, in 2006, Ugwu Paul Chinedu, returned to Enugu, hoping to secure a job in either the public or private sector. And after knocking on the doors of several potential employers without getting any positive response, Chinedu, a graduate of linguistics, decided to go into the business of buying and selling electronic and electrical equipment.? But there was a snag; he had no money to kick-start his chosen trade.

He quickly devised a solution; sold his craggy car, and went further to obtain a loan of N5 million from a micro-finance bank.

Armed with enough money, he rented a shop at Eke Obinagu market, which is located on the Enugu- Abakaliki Road – and a shouting distance from the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company – a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Chinedu’s shop was overstuffed with electronic and electrical? equipment of various types and sizes, including television sets, standing fans, stabilizers, electric stoves,? pressing irons,? and digital video discs.

It was a thriving business, and he soon forgot the agonizing pains he went through scouting for non-existent white collar jobs.

But fate played a wicked trick on him in the early hours of Sunday, January 8, 2012.? “A friend of mine called me on telephone by 4.30 a.m. to inform me that fire has gutted Eke Obinagu market, and that he could see billows of smoke oozing from the market.

“I woke almost all my neighbours up, and by the time we got to the market, I found to my amazement that the fire had completely destroyed everything in my shop.

“As I talk to you, I am penniless, and I keep asking God why I should encounter this kind of misfortune”, he narrated to WEEKEND LEADERSHIP.

He has paid back N3 million to the micro-finance bank, leaving a balance of N2 million, and it is not certain whether the business was insured against such unforeseen circumstances.

David Chukwubuikem (God is my strength), is a dealer in foodstuffs, and hails from Olo in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu state.? He had spent several years in the commercial city of Kano, before relocating to Enugu in February 2011, apparently to escape the constant sectarian crises in that Northern part of the country.

A father of five children, he rented a shop at Eke Obinagu market, where he continued his business of vending foodstuffs – mostly rice, beans and garri.

As he was coming back to Enugu after celebrating Christmas and New Year day in his country home, he had? looked forward to a blissful and prosperous 2012.? But unknown to him, evil forces had a totally? different plan for him.? His shop was among those ravaged by the inferno that engulfed the Eke Obinagu market.

“Where can I get money to re-stock my shop, feed my family, and pay the children’s school fees?” he said intermittently, as he narrated his ordeal to WEEKEND LEADERSHIP with tears in his eyes.

The January 8, 2012, fire incident was not an isolated case.? According to one of the traders Jeremiah Anike (Alias Okosisi), who lost a super market, a safe containing over N.6 million and a tavern to the inferno, said the market has a covenant with fire.?

“Almost at this period of the year, we experience fire incident in this market, but while the previous year’s fire outbreak was relatively mild, this year’s? is overwhelming”, he said.

This is not a figment of his imagination.? Chief Michael Ngene, said he lost four standard shops to the fire, including building materials running into about N3 million.?

“I am in a hopeless situation…how do I begin life again at this age?” he asked repeatedly.? He is over 60 years old.

Assuming the previous fire incidents in the market were caused by electrical spark, there is a consensus here that the market was deliberately set on fire, January 8, by “unknown” person.? In fact, one trader who spoke on condition of anonymity said that given the ferociousness of the fire, “someone might have poured petrol in the middle of the market, before setting it ablaze”.

This is possible, given the presence of insane men and women in and around the market, particularly at night.? Also, a popular brothel located almost in the middle of the market, is largely patronized by men of questionable character.? “It is quite unsafe to operate a brothel close to an unfenced market like this”, says Mr. Uche Akobundu, a trader in the market who also lost some goods to the inferno.

Prince Cornelius Nnaji, chairman, Enugu East Local Government Council, told WEEKEND LEADERSHIP in a telephone interview that plans were afoot to relocate the market to a safer environment, albeit he said the council needed the co-operation and support of the villagers (Obinagu-Nike), to do so.

Meanwhile, some of the victims of the fire disaster appealed to the government at the various levels, corporate bodies, and public-spirited individuals, through WEEKEND LEADERSHIP, to assist them start life once again.

Eucharia Ene, who hails from Udi Local Government Area of Enugu state, and who said she didn’t pick a pin from her provision store, wondered how she could survive the days ahead without financial assistance from the government or members of the public.

The market appears to share a common destiny – misfortune – with the nearby NNPC depot.? While the depot has remained closed for over five years following the vandalisation of pipelines that supply petroleum products to the federal government-owned facility, the development of the market has been hampered by incessant fire disasters, which have become an annual ritual.

The result is that most families, who depend on the depot and the market as their sources of income, are presently wallowing in penury and misery.