Business owners on the early hours of Sunday, November 8, lost goods worth over N300 million to fire outbreak at Ijomu area of Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Sola Omorege, one of the youth leaders in the area, said it took their efforts to put out the fire, though they could not rescue any of the items in the complex.
He lamented that the fire service in the state couldn’t help when they went to their office on a motorbike due to lack of functional equipment.
Also speaking on the fire incident, Folabi Fayehun, the Edemo of Akure Kingdom, said he contacted the Ondo State Fire Service, in Akure through a fire-fighter in Ilesa, but they complained they had no functional fire equipment and could not help.
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Fayehun lamented that goods and property worth millions of naira had been lost to fire incident in the state capital, in particular, due to non-availability of fire fighting equipment.
Condemning the lackadaisical attitude of the state government to the series of fire incidents in the state, Fayehun said: “It’s supposed to be a case of once bitten twice shy. When we experienced this kind of incident at Oba Nla in the next street, a couple of months ago, the governor was there.
“I think there’s a need for the government to have fire fighting equipment on ground because this is becoming a recurring situation where people are losing multi-million naira worth of goods and property in the state. “This is supposed to be a social service that government should render to the populace. When I was talking to the member of the state House of Assembly representing this constituency IV, he said it was the government that should send that kind of bill to the house and it would be approved. I then asked why he couldn’t send it to the house himself.
