Traders at the popular rice mill market located at Wurukum by River Benue Bridge in Makurdi have appealed for help following a fire incident that gutted multi-million property in the area.
The fire incident was said to have happened in the wee hours on Monday before men of the state fire service swiftly intervened to put it out preventing it from spreading to other nearby shops.
A few shops filled with processed and non-processed rice and other items such as processing machines were burnt to ashes.
One of the victims of the inferno, Mrs Mercy Hanmaikyur, said she only opened the shop last December and added that she lost about N10m to the fire.
“I opened this shop last December having invested about N10m. I had three machines: de-stoning machine, rice polishing machine alongside several bags of processed and non-processed rice in the shop and all were burnt,” Mrs Hammaikyur said.
Also lamenting the fire incident, a trader, Iorwa Jeremiah, said due to the timing of the incident, nothing could be salvaged from his shop.
Jeremiah said, “I received a distress call in the wee hours of today and by the time I got here, I met other people who have shops here with the fire service men who later succeeded in putting out the fire but not after the damage had been done to my shop.
The Chairman of Wurukum Rice Mill Market, Terva Igyar, said a few shops were burnt, including a motorcycle, about six milling machines, bags of rice and other items.
Igyar said he was in touch with officials of Makurdi Local Government Area and other stakeholders who he said had promised to come to assess the situation before he would be able to give the amount lost to the inferno.
The traders ruled out the possibility of electricity as the main cause of the fire incident stating that their shops were not connected to any electricity supply.
The victims, however, appealed to the state governor, Hyacinth Alia, to assist them in any area that would help to cushion the effects of the fire incident.
“We appeal to the state government to assist us recover from the massive destruction we experienced in this incident,” one of the traders told TheNigerian Metro.
