Fire outbreak: Otti visits Ehere Market, pledges to assist affected traders

By Ihechinyere Chigemeri-Uwom

Aba, March 12, 2024

Gov. Alex Otti of Abia says the state government will assist traders who lost their shops and wares to Monday’s fire incident at the Timber section of Ehere Market in Aba.

Otti said this on Tuesday when he visited the scene of the incident to sympathise with the traders and ascertain the extent of damage.

The governor said it was unfortunate that the structure of the market was built in a manner that made it susceptible to fire outbreaks and difficult for firefighting trucks to get to the scene of the incident.

He expressed the readiness of Abia government to rebuild the razed shops at the market.

Otti directed the Transition Committee Chairman of Obingwa Local Government Area, Dr Eric Egwuibe, to immediately initiate the process of rebuilding and transforming the market into a conducive place.

He said: “We will assess the level of damage and through the Transition Committee Chairman begin the process of rebuilding this place.

“I think the way the market is, makes it susceptible to fire incidents. We need to ensure that there are fire extinguishers in all the shops around here.

“I am giving an instruction to the Transition Committee Chairman to assess the level of damage and begin the process of rebuilding, bring down all those ramshackle buildings and build proper shops for all of you.

“We also want the shops to be properly built because the way it is, it is easy to conduct fire leading to other shops.

“Even the way the entire place looks, it is not very decent and very inviting. So, I will like you to trade in an environment that is conducive.”

Otti said that on getting information about the disaster, he quickly directed the Homeland Security and Fire Service to expedite action in ensuring that the fire was controlled.

He thanked God that no life was lost in the incident, adding that fire extinguishers would be procured and placed strategically in the market to enable traders tackle such outbreaks in the future.

Otti expressed the determination to ensure that traders conduct their business in a conducive environment adding that government would assist the affected traders to replace their lost goods.

“The details of how it will be done will 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 losses to the owners, by the time we do the assessment, we see how we can support them,” he said.

In a related development, the governor also visited an accident scene on Ikot Ekpene Road, where a heavy duty truck loaded with bags of cement crashed into a building on Monday night, but no life was lost.

Otti directed the Director-General of Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA), Mr. Uche Ukeje, to liaise with the Police to ensure immediate evacuation of the damaged trailer.