Months after a devastating fire ravaged Karu market in the Federal Capital Territory, new shops are being constructed directly on the entrance road, potentially hindering emergency access.
The fire, which occurred on June 27, 2024, destroyed around 50% of the shops.
According to Florence Wenegieme, Acting Director-General of the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Department (FEMD), one of the challenges in responding to the fire was gaining access to the affected area.
This raises concerns about the new shops being built on the entrance road.
Persecondnews reported that an inferno had engulfed the market on June 27, 2024, resulting in the destruction of about 50 percent of the shops.
FEMD boss identified poor access to the affected area as one of the key challenges that impeded the firefighters’ ability to contain the fire promptly.
She said: “There are fire stations at two locations in Karu. We have the Karu Fire Station, and a fire station and firefighting truck in the new Karu Market under construction.
“Firefighting trucks arrived at the scene of the fire on time but could not get access to the market to put out the fire on time. We had to break walls to pass the firefighting water horses through to be able to put out the fire.”
After the fire was extinguished, half of the buildings that hindered firefighters’ access were demolished, creating a free access road within the market.
A check by Persecondnews correspondent on April 20 on the development revealed that a new line of shops was being constructed on the very same entrance road, opposite the demolished structures.
The Vice Chairman of the Karu Market Association, Austin Obi, representing Chairman Abdulahadi Abubakar, confirmed knowledge of the situation.
Obi said they were following the guidelines set by AMAC, which specified an 8-meter road width.
He said: “The issue is the traders’ behavior towards boundaries. If they abide by the boundaries the government sets for them and do not exceed them, the entrance will be free.
“But soon you will see them, even after occupying the shops, constructing small tables in front of their shops and collecting money from petty traders, thereby congesting the entrance again.”
A trader who spoke to Persecondnews on condition of anonymity said: “What we are witnessing in the market is nothing but the extent to which greed can push some people to do things to the detriment of others.
“Is this not the same narrow entrance that hindered firefighters from saving our goods worth millions of naira from burning? Is this not the same entrance where we paid huge amount of money to labourers to demolish buildings blocking the entrance road.
“What has changed now? Why are they trying to build shops on the same road they want to keep free? Nothing has changed; their greed has just crept up as usual.
“That same greed is the reason why we still have not gotten a shop even after paying a huge amount of money for it.”
Efforts by Persecondnews correspondent to get the reaction of the Senior Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman of AMAC on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Madaki, were unsuccessful as he did not return calls or respond to messages sent to his phone.
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