A fire outbreak has destroyed shops and goods worth millions of naira at Eda Plaza, a building materials market opposite Chida Hotel in Jabi, Abuja, leaving traders scrambling to save whatever they could from the blaze.
The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning, with an alarm reportedly raised at about 3:00am after a trader received a distress call about the fire at the plaza. By the time some shop owners and their relatives arrived at the scene, the flames had already spread across parts of the market, destroying shops and stored building materials.
Footage posted by the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, showed traders and shop owners rushing around the affected area as they attempted to salvage their goods from the fire. The extent of the destruction left some business owners counting significant losses after materials stocked in their shops and storage facilities were consumed by the flames.
An eyewitness, who spoke to NTA on condition of anonymity, said his brother-in-law, who operates two shops and a packing store within the plaza, was alerted to the incident through a call from one of his colleagues at the market.
The eyewitness said they immediately rushed to the plaza after receiving the call but found that the fire had already become severe.
“We were at home this morning, as early as 3:00am, and my brother-in-law received a call from one of his colleagues here in the plaza that the plaza was on fire. So we had to rush down there. On getting here, we discovered that the situation was so bad,” he said.
According to him, the fire had spread extensively before they arrived, leaving only one of his brother-in-law’s two shops intact.
He explained that the trader had two shops as well as a packing store within the affected plaza, but the fire completely destroyed one of the shops and the storage facility.
“In this plaza, my brother-in-law had two shops and a packing store. Unfortunately, only one of the shops was saved. The other shop and the packing store were totally damaged by the fire,” he said.
The scale of the financial loss was further highlighted by the value of roofing materials that were destroyed. The eyewitness estimated that roofing materials alone were worth more than N20 million.
He also expressed concern that some of the materials destroyed in the fire had only been delivered to the market the previous night, meaning the goods had barely been stored before they were lost to the blaze.
The incident has therefore left affected traders facing substantial losses, particularly those whose shops and storage spaces contained large quantities of building materials. The early-morning timing of the outbreak also meant that many traders were not present when the fire began and only became aware of the incident after receiving calls.
Despite the destruction, the eyewitness said there were no casualties recorded in the incident.
The fire affected businesses operating within Eda Plaza, a building materials market situated opposite Chida Hotel in the Jabi area of Abuja. Shop owners were seen making efforts to remove whatever goods could still be recovered as the blaze affected the premises.
The incident has again highlighted the vulnerability of markets and commercial premises where large quantities of combustible or valuable materials are stored. For the affected traders, however, the immediate concern remains the extent of the financial damage and the loss of goods that were intended for sale.
At the time of filing this report, the Federal Capital Territory Fire Service had yet to issue a statement on the incident or provide details on the cause of the fire and the firefighting response.
The cause of the outbreak was also not established in the information available at the time of the report.
Affected traders are now left to assess the damage to their shops, warehouses and goods following the early-morning fire, while further details are expected from the relevant authorities as investigations into the incident continue.
Millions of Naira in Goods Destroyed as Fire Ravages Abuja Building Materials Market
