On Friday night, a fire broke out at Olusola Saraki Market in the Ita-Amo neighbourhood of the Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, destroying goods valued at several million Naira.
The Kwara State Fire Service reports that garment materials, groceries, soft drinks, and meat were among the items damaged in the fire incident.
The Fire Department Seven of the 269 stores in the market were destroyed, according to a statement released on Saturday by Hassan Adekunle, the state fire service’s principal fire officer and head of media and publicity.
It further stated that a power surge brought on by the power distribution company’s erratic supply was what started the fire.
According to the statement, “On Friday, 10 January 2025, at about 21:36 hours, the Kwara State Fire Service received a distress call reporting a fire outbreak at Olusola Saraki Market, Ita-Amo, Ilorin.
Our firefighters promptly deployed to the scene and discovered multiple shops ablaze in a market comprising 276 shops. Through swift intervention, professionalism, and expertise, our team successfully contained the inferno, limiting the damage to only seven shops and saving 269 others.
“The affected shops included meat vendors, clothing material shops, and provision stores.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the incident might have been caused by a power surge following the fluctuating power supply from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), as reported by the market’s security personnel.”
Prince Falade John, the Director of the Kwara State Fire Service, expressed sympathy for the market leadership, impacted store owners, and the entire market community, according to the statement.
In addition to wishing that the traders’ losses would be multiplied many times over, Falade encouraged everyone to take precautions against fire in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.