FCT pledges probe, residents loot items as massive fire consumes Abuja mall

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FCT pledges probe, residents loot items as massive fire consumes Abuja mall

A massive fire outbreak at the Next Cash and Carry Supermarket in the Jahi area of the Federal Capital Territory, on Sunday, destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

The FCT authorities have promised to probe the incident.

It was gathered that the fire was caused by an electrical surge in the administrative section on the first floor of the supermarket.

According to some of the employees, who spoke to journalists, the fire started around 8am, but no death was recorded.

The employees of the supermarket, however, accused personnel of the fire service of getting to the scene late.

One of the workers said, “The fire started around 8am and we called the fire service, which did not arrive on time. We made attempts to extinguish the fire, but we couldn’t find the key to the fire truck stationed at the supermarket; the fire wouldn’t have escalated if the fire service personnel had arrived on time. The fire was caused by an electrical surge.”

The FCT Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, the fire units of the Nigerian Navy and Guards Brigade, and fire trucks from Julius Berger Plc were still on the ground trying to extinguish the inferno as of the time of filing this report.

A supplier, who gave his name simply as Godspower, said he lost goods worth over N12m to the inferno.

He said, “I am the youngest supplier to Next Cash and Carry Supermarket; I have supplied goods for January and February and the supply has not been recorded yet. Next is a warehouse where you bring your products and sell them and they get their percentage. My goods that Next has not signed is over N4.5m. I don’t know where to start. The one that has been signed is N8m. I drop my goods here and get my money monthly.”

However, the Director-General, FCT Federal Emergency Management Agency, Mr Abass Idris, denied that his men got to the scene late.

“We got the distress call and we immediately activated the responders on time, especially the security agencies, first to cordon off the place to avoid looting. I was there first before the response team came around 9am and the operation was well coordinated.”

There were reports of looting during the incident.

But contrary to videos trending online, Idris said there was no looting, adding that the people seen with goods were employees moving out the goods from the store to a safe place.

He, however, said the damage done by the inferno could not be immediately ascertained.

“This is a big store and a lot of loss has been incurred, but we cannot ascertain the extent of the damage for now. The good thing is that there was no life lost to the fire and nobody was injured.”

However, no fewer than four persons, who stole from the supermarket, were apprehended.

The FCT Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Ben Igwe, said the police were there to ensure the place was adequately secured.

He added that the scene was barricaded to discourage hoodlums from looting the store.

Meanwhile, the Minister of FCT, Muhammad Bello, has given an assurance that a thorough investigation would be conducted to ascertain the cause of the inferno.

This, according to him, is to prevent a recurrence in any other business establishment within the FCT.

The minister stated this in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Anthony Ogunleye, on Sunday.

The statement was titled, ‘Next Cash and Carry fire: Minister commiserates with management, Abuja business community’.

It read, “The Minister of the FCT, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has expressed shock and deep sadness over the fire incident that engulfed the Next Cash and Carry Supermarket in Abuja on Sunday, December 26, 2021.

“The FCT Administration and the entire residents of the FCT commiserate with the management and staff of the supermarket and the FCT business community over the unfortunate incident.

“The minister commended the FCT Fire Service, the Federal Fire Service, the fire service departments of the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Guards Brigade and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc that responded with their fire-fighting equipment.

“He equally commended the FCT FEMA, the National Emergency Management Agency, security agencies and other responders for their efforts in containing the blaze.

“Bello also gave an assurance that a thorough investigation will be conducted to ascertain the cause of the fire incident in an effort to prevent a recurrence in any other business establishment within the FCT.”