It came like a bombshell when a fire razed the popular Aleshinloye Market in Ibadan some months ago. Affected traders were capriciously hounded into misery as the fire turned what they had built for years into ashes. FESTUS IYORAH reports the traders' experiences, and life after the sad incidence.Stanley Onyedika had once experienced the inferno that razed Aleshinloye Market 10 years ago. He told Nigerian Tribune that the recent fire incident was another setback for him. He said: 'It seems as if one just went back to the beginning. I had three shops which got burnt before my eyes that night when the sad incident occurred, and this is the second time I am experiencing it.'Okere Kika, another trader, said it was a bad experience that one should pray not to experience again because 'this kind of incident has not happened to me before. It was like a nightmare seeing my property burning before my eyes and everything got burnt within the twinkle of an eye.''We borrowed money to build our shops'A trader who simply called himself, Engineer Bello that sells men's wears, recounted his experience after the fire outbreak. He told Nigerian Tribune that the incident which occurred two months ago had prompted him to go for a loan. He said: 'I knew it wasn't the end of the road. I reached out to some of my friends who gathered some money for me, but the money was not enough for me. Therefore I had to go for a loan. It is the money I got from the loan together with what my friends gave me that I used to build my new shop and to buy some goods, at least to start with.'Soyemi Adeoye, who sells jewellery, was on two loans before. He couldn't go for another loan again. Rather, he received financial help from friends and relatives. He said: 'I got two loans before and I could not afford to get another loan again. So, I decided to borrow some money from my friends who helped me. That was what I used to buy some sets of new jewellery and build my new shop. As you can see the shop is not fully stocked compared to my former shop where I used cabinet to showcase my jewellery. It is so unfortunate that what have built for many years, goods worth more than four million naira were wasted before my eyes that dreadful night.'Mrs Jane Chizoba, a shoe seller, poured out her emotions. She said friends and family helped her to get back on track after the traumatic occurrence, adding that 'friends and families helped me with money which I used to build the shop, buy new goods including feeding, because I did not have money to feed my family during that period.''We did not receive any money from government'Contrary to the information that government gave all affected market traders cheques of N50,000, Nigerian Tribune gathered that some of the affected market traders did not collect the N50,000 cheque. This led to hostile gestures from a woman when Nigerian Tribune approached her for an interview. The woman, who preferred anonymity, complained that she needed money but 'government has not given me any money,' adding that she borrowed money to build her shop and buy goods.Onyedika, who lost three shops to the fire incident said he did not get any money either. According to him, 'The day they were issuing the cheques I was not around; they told us that those traders that did not get the cheque had to go to the local government and check there. We've been to the local government several times without number. All they keep telling us there is to write our names and up to this moment that am speaking with you I have not gotten any money from government. I did not get money for any of my three shops.'Corroborating Onyedika's statement, Engineer Bello, who is the chairman of the affected section of the market, the car park section, and also one of the executives of the 'Fancy section' at Aleshinloye market told Nigerian Tribune that some traders did not get the cheque due to their absence at the market the day they were issuing the cheques. He added that since then, they had been parading the local government to get the money, but all was to no avail.'Burglars stole our goods'Nigerian Tribune gathered that some of the goods that were not affected by fire were stolen by burglars who acted as helpers when the fire was raging. Mrs Chizoba told Nigerian Tribune that some of her goods were stolen including her ceiling fan.Adeoye, who lost more than N5 million worth of jewellery to the inferno said, 'Some people came to my aid while I was struggling to rescue my jewelleries that were not affected by the fire. Then I realised that some of those people that offered helping hands were burglars. Because people were too much, it was hard to single out the culprit among the crowd.'Onyedika, also experienced the same circumstance. He told Nigeria Tribune that burglars came in form of helpers and they took advantage of the incident to steal some of his goods. He said: 'When the fire started I rushed into my shop to save some of my goods that were not yet affected by the fire. Some people showed up saying they came to help, but they were not helping me; they packed some of my goods and made away with them while others truly came to help.''We don't want electricity for now'The car park section of the market was the most affected by the inferno. Some of the victims who blamed the inferno on power surge told Nigerian Tribune that they did not want electricity for now and that things had to be put in order before electricity could be restored.Mrs Chizoba told Nigerian Tribune that the market needed to have a control room for electricity so that the incident would not happen again. She said: 'The incident came like a bombshell. It has never happen to me before and the main cause of this incident was high voltage electricity. So we want a place where electricity in the market will be controlled.'Corroborating Chizoba's assertion, the chairman of the car park section, told Nigerian Tribune that they needed to have a control room before electricity could be restored. Engineer Bello said: 'We need to have a control room where we will be controlling the electricity of this section of the market,' adding that the electricity should be supplied in the morning by 7am, and it should be switched off by 7pm.Change in market closing timeOnyedika told Nigerian Tribune that before the fire incident traders stayed in the market until 8pm, but the new market law stipulates that the market should open by 7am and close by 7pm. Engineer Bello said the timing had to change in order to prevent an inferno from happening again.
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