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It was a scene of agony and profuse emotional depression for the victims of the fire disaster that occurred at popular Old Garage, Osogbo.
The flame which burnt at least nine shops down earth was said to have started around 11:00pm yesterday as it destroyed several properties till early hours of this morning.
Nigeria Politics Online learnt that the fire started at a time when all the shops' owners have gone to their various homes.
While expressing sorrow over the ugly accident, some of the victims whose valuable properties and business materials lost to the accident attributed the occurrence to the high voltage electricity supply which they said attracted electric appliances that eventually catches fire.
In his reaction, Mr. Rasheed Popoola who is among the victims selling and repairing tailoring machines said he lost over N800,000 worth machines to the fire outbreak.
He lamented over what he described as inefficiency and negligence of duty on the side of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), saying if they (PHCN Officials) do their work as expected, issue of power failure and high voltage would have been averted.
Mr Popoola who spoke in hues and strong emotional displeasure said he has lost all what he has on earth to the fire as he borrowed a huge amount of money to purchase new machines for sale.
He faulted the service rendered by the workers of fire service management in the state, saying their high level of being unprepared, coupled with their inability to avert the flame compounded the situation as they delayed those around the area who actually ready to quench the fire.
Mr. Popoola narrated that he received a call of the accident by a relative some hours he left his shop and he quickly ran to the scene before he discovered that the flame has gone through the roofs of all shops around the place.
According to him, " this is a great loss and huge debt for us because I just bought some machines for sale with the money that I borrowed for my business.
"Infact if I had known, I would have neither borrow nor buy goods at this time.
" I bought those machines to meet up with my customers' high demand during this yuletide period.
"Look at all my machines burnt. Infact none of them is repairable because of the rate of fire that ravaged it.
" I never knew this will happen, because if I knew, I would have stayed in the shop till the time the fire started.
" Infact there is the need for government to sack those people working in the fire service unit because they are set of lazy people who derelict their primary social statutory responsibilities out of negligence and carelessness.
"Just take a look at those people, they came to the fire scene without water. Please tell me what is their duty if they exist without water which is their main tool to prevent fire disaster.
"The most painful aspect of it was that when they came back, they pipe has been perforated severally as the larger part of the water in their truck wasted.
He therefore appealed to government to assist them in whatever way in order for them to back on their feet.
However, some of the eyewitnesses said their efforts to prevent and extinguish the flame from further extension proved abortive as most of the wells and other water sources around the area had gone dry.
Therefore all efforts made by our correspondent to authenticate the accident officially from the Divisional Police Officer, Dugbe District, that near the scene of the accident didn't succeed as he declined comment on the ground that the matter has not been officially reported to the police.
Efforts to speak to other victims most especially the Igbos among them proved abortive as they were not on the scene as at the time of filing this reports.
This just further highlights the need for insurance and proper education of our people on its importance. If there was a fire and special perils insurance policy in place with some extensions these traders and shop owners wouldn't have had to worry about a thing in the event of this fire outbreak, the insurance company would have been responsible for the rebuilding of the shops and replacement of their stocks/goods. What even makes it unfortunate for them is the money they would certainly have lost to the insurance company as premium(consideration furnished) is around 0.1 - 0.2% of the value of the shops. Compare that with the financial responsibility they have to carry on their own now
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