Abia state Governor Alex Otti, has promised Government’s support to traders affected by the fire outbreak that engulfed the Timber Market in Aba and reduced it to debris on Monday night.
The Governor who made the promise when he visited the place for on-the-spot assessment of the extent of damage by the inferno, sympathised with the traders over the incident.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the poor design of the market which made it easy for fire to easily spread from one shop to the other.
The Governor stressed the need for markets in the state to be properly designed, and built to allow for ease of movement, especially in the event of fire outbreak or any other emergency situation.
Governor Otti directed the Mayor of Obingwa Local Government Area, Dr Eric Egwuibe, to immediately begin the process of rebuilding the market.
“What we will do is to assess the level of damage. We will also through the Mayor begin the process of rebuilding this place.
“I think the way the market is makes it susceptible to fire incident. You know, where you have wood, you have saw dust; these are very expensive woods, and so we need to ensure there are fire extinguishers in all the shops around here.
“We also want the shops to be properly built because the way it is, it is easy to conduct fire to other shops. Even the way the entire place looks, it is not very decent and very inviting. I will like you to trade in an environment that is conducive.
He assured that fire extinguishers would be procured and placed strategically in the market as a proactive step in the eventuality of any future fire incident.
The Governor who said his vision was to ensure that traders operate in a conducive environment fit for trading, assured traders of Government’s support to recover from their loss following the fire disaster.
He said that the details of how the support would be disbursed would be worked out.
” One thing I can assure you is that if you do have a shop here, you will not lose your shop. We also know that this damage would have cost a lot of loss to the owners. By the time we do the assessment, we will see how we can support them,” Otti assured.
