Karmo Market inferno: How we lost N300m goods – Traders

By Stanley Onyekwere

Following the late night fire outbreak that gutted the popular Karmo market, affected traders at the  market have disclosed the lost of over 300 million Naira worth of goods, even as they now grapple with grief and pains.

It was gathered that the inferno, which cause was yet to be ascertained, reportedly started around 8pm on Tuesday and razed down over 100 makeshift shops, before the arrival of the fire fighters.

Lamenting the situation, Chairman of Karmo traders Association, Makata Silvanus, said despite the intervention of the fire service and other emergency operatives, fire ravaged the shops in the market.

According to him, the affected traders were yet to recover from the loses of the last fire incident three years ago.

“I  was called around 8pm yesterday that there was fire in the market, immediately I called some relevant agencies. Before I could arrive, the fire service was fighting to quench the fire.

“We lost over N300 m, because the affected area is the heart of the market.

“We cannot rebuild the market, we need the government to do that, it is also not true that AMAC had made attempts to restructure the market, but was resisted by the traders”, he stated.

He stressed that the market had been abandoned in the poor state for a long time, after the traders in the market had sued and obtain favourable judgement against the traders obtained against the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

“In 2006 the market was destroyed by FCTA after allocating it to traders, we also made efforts to get justice, the then government agreed that traders should be compensated,  but nothing was done.

“We went to court in 2011 and in 2018 court gave judgement in our favour. The court said we should be compensated and the market rebuilt. Till this time, nothing has been done”, he added.