Traders at Eda Plaza in Jabi, Abuja, were thrown into panic early Sunday after a fire swept through parts of the building materials market, destroying shops and goods valued at millions of naira.
The plaza, situated opposite Chida Hotel, was engulfed by the fire in the early hours of the day, with affected traders making frantic efforts to rescue whatever they could.
A video obtained from the Nigerian Television Authority showed shop owners at the scene trying to remove their goods as firefighters battled the blaze.
An eyewitness said the incident was discovered around 3am after his brother-in-law, who operates two shops and a storage facility at the plaza, was alerted by a colleague.
He said the fire had already caused significant damage by the time they arrived.
“We were at home this morning, as early as 3 am, and my brother-in-law received a call from one of his colleagues here in the plaza that the plaza was on fire. So we had to rush down there. On getting here, we discovered that the situation was so bad.”
According to the eyewitness, only one of the two shops belonging to his brother-in-law survived the incident, while the second shop and the storage facility were completely destroyed.
“In this plaza, my brother-in-law had two shops and a packing store. Unfortunately, only one of the shops was saved. The other shop and the packing store were totally damaged by the fire,” he added.
He disclosed that roofing materials worth more than N20m were lost, with some of the affected items having been brought into the shop just a day earlier.
“Over here, you see some of the roofs that we still have here. We are talking about a roof that is worth over N20 million lost in this fire,” he said.
He added, “Because the other shop, we had roofs that were just restocked last night. And then the packing store also, we had roofs that were just restocked last night.”
Although the fire caused substantial financial losses, the eyewitness said the absence of casualties remained a source of relief.
“In our situation, we give thanks to God that no life was lost in this situation,” he said.
PUNCH Online’s attempt to obtain an official response from the Federal Capital Territory Fire Service was unsuccessful as of the time of filing the report.
The Julius Berger firefighting team also joined efforts to put out the fire. Its team leader said they were contacted shortly before 4am and deployed equipment and personnel to the location.
“We were called by a quarter to 4:00 in the morning, helping out to extinguish the fire.
“We had two fire engines, two fire water tankers, and eight firemen that helped extinguish this fire.
“It took us approximately four hours to… with the help, obviously, of the Federal Fire Department, to get this fire under control.”
Following the operation, the firefighter urged people to avoid putting themselves at risk while attempting to recover property during emergencies.
“In case of fire, evacuate the building and don’t disturb the firefighters doing their job. This is what is actually happening here. Everybody is inside there. I understand they try to save their possessions, but this is life. Life matters, and safety first.”
