By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Some indigenes of Kwara state residing in neighbouring kogi state have expressed concern over frequent fire incidents occuring in their state, particularly Ilorin, the state capital.
They expressed their views in separate interview with the Correspondent of The Reporters in Lokoja on Sunday while reacting to the Sunday inferno, the latest instance, which gutted two stores, fully stocked with different varieties of food items, at Oja-tuntun market in Ilorin.
The Director, Kwara State Fire Service,Prince Falade John Olumuyiwa, who confirmed the incident in a statement signed by Hassan Hakeem Adekunle, Head,
Media and Publicity of the organization, disclosed that the :”the fire occurred early this morning,23rd of January 2022, at about 6:46hrs.”
“Firemen met the fire very well alighted but immediately they were able to extinguish it and saved many other shops in the market premises.
“The fire incident was caused as a result of unmonitored refuse burning.”
He,therefore, urged the general public to always play safe to avert fire disaster,especially during harmattan.
Our Correspondent recalls that the latest incident happened barely few days after that of a shopping complex at number one, Folusho Hall Kulende junction, Sango Area, Ilorin, where residents also lost valuable property worth millions of naira.
According to HOD, Media and Publicity,the kulende inferno was due to the carelessness of “one anonymous person in the area who deliberately set some abandoned tyres on fire”.
Sources claim that the area had earlier experienced other inferno before the latest two disasters.
Speaking with newsmen, Prince John Falade urged the people to always be careful and desist from burning tyres and bush indiscriminately to avoid destruction of property and ensure safety of lives.
Prince Olumuyiwa said though no life was lost in the fire incidents so far, the need for people to imbibe the culture of being alert to any form of naked fire in their neighborhood, especially during this harmattan, could not be overemphasized.
Speaking on the issue, some Kwarans in Lokoja described fire gutting some parts in their state as l worrisome, adding that the the state government needed to do something urgent to arrest the frightening development.
Alhaji Abdulkarim Mohammed said:” Those of us from kwara state, living in Kogi state are not comfortable with the ravaging fire which is fast becoming a recalling decima in our state.
“We have been reading in the media on how fire gutted some areas in Ilorin and property worth millions of naira or dollars,as the case may, perished, leaving victims in perpetual sorrow while others make efforts to start life again, almost from nothing,”Mohammed said.
Babatunde Abdulkarim, who sympathised with victims, called on the the State Fire Service to go beyond salvaging the situation and embark on aggressive enlightenment campaign to sensitise the public on precautionary measures to take against fire incident.
Others stressed the need for residents in that state to imbibe the culture of safe guarding the environment, particularly shunning bush burning, avoid keeping petrol at home, off electrical appliances not used when leaving their houses to effectively check fire incident.
