No fewer than 300 shops were razed in a devastating fire that engulfed the mobile phone market in the Farm Centre area of Kano, Kano State, on Friday.
The inferno, which reportedly lasted more than six hours, broke out in the early hours of the day, destroying phones, accessories, and other valuable items worth billions of naira.
Chairman of the market, Jamilu Gama, who confirmed the incident to Saturday PUNCH, said the worst-hit sections were shops dealing in mobile devices and repair tools.
‘There was a huge loss of property and assets. In a single shop, you could find items worth N50 million, and in some cases, up to N1 billion, all completely burnt’, he lamented.
Gama estimated the total damage at nearly N100 billion, describing the destruction as ‘unprecedented’.
He added that the cause of the fire had not yet been ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
‘Investigations are ongoing, but we still don’t know what triggered the fire’, he said.
As of press time, officials of the Kano State Fire Service and emergency agencies were yet to issue a formal statement on the incident.
