Multimillion naira worth of goods were destroyed following a fire outbreak at the herb section of the popular Oranyan market in Ibadan, Oyo state capital on Saturday.
The fire incident, which source is still yet to be identified destroyed no fewer than 40 shops in the market.
Some of the victims including the youth leader of the market, Fatimoh Adebimpe, lamented the loss of goods to the incident.
Adebimpe, who noted that she had been selling goods in the market since 1979, said they do resume at the market around 7am and close by 7pm.
“Whenever they ring bell or you heard the sound of bell in the evening, you must take your leave. So, some of us were already at our different homes when those living close to the market called us around 10pm that the market was on fire.
“What could have caused this? We are not connected to national grid, because it is a taboo. We are not using electricity. Nobody is selling food here. So, we are still confused about the whole situation.
“I cannot quantify what I lost to that fire. I just bought some things like full tiger skin and many other things that I may not want in the paper.
“Though, the local government officials who control this area were here on Monday and they promised to do something. We are hopeful,” she said.
The General Manager, Oyo State Fire Service, Yemi Akinyinka, who confirmed the incident, said they received an emergency around 11:25pm on Saturday.
“The incident affected 20 prefabricated shops out of multiple adjourning rows of shops.
“Property worth millions of naira were affected, while property worth billions of naira were saved.But no life was lost. Our personnel returned back to the station at exactly 03:36hrs,” he said.