The worst fears of many traders in Zamfara State have come real after a fire ravaged their market to cause irreparable damage in the area.
File photo used only for illustrative purpose
A fire which swept through a market in Zamfara State has left many people weeping and counting their losses.
The incident occurred late Tuesday at second hand cloth market in Gusau.
A lot of goods worth over N20 million have been destroyed by the fire.
According to Vanguard, twelve shops, housing second hand clothes and other valuables belonging to traders were affected.
One of the victims, Alhaji Adamu Maigwanjo who spoke to newsmen on behalf of others said he lost over N3 million goods.
He said many traders in the market even lost more. He therefore appealed to the government to come to their aid immediately so that they could resume business particularly at this season of economic recession.
The Executive Secretary of the state emergency management agency, Malam Sanusi Kwatarkwashi said he has mobilized staff to carry out an assessment of the disaster.
Kwatarkwashi who described the incident as very disheartening called on the victims to be patient and consider the disaster as an act of God. Both the traders and other residents in the state expressed worries over the failure of the state fire service to respond to the fire.
The fire was put out by the combined efforts of the traders and residents around the market.
The fire fighting vehicles of the state have either broken down or are short of fuel to carry out any rescue operation.