Tales of woe from Plateau’s many market infernos

Since its establishment almost 44 years ago, traders and wood merchants at the Laranto Market, otherwise referred to as Katako Market in Jos, Plateau State, have been reeling out tales of woe from fire incidents at the market. Standing as Plateau’s largest and one of the oldest markets, Laranto has about 32 sections including the […]

Since its establishment almost 44 years ago, traders and wood merchants at the Laranto Market, otherwise referred to as Katako Market in Jos, Plateau State, have been reeling out tales of woe from fire incidents at the market.

Standing as Plateau’s largest and one of the oldest markets, Laranto has about 32 sections including the timber shed, grain section, Kola nuts section as well as sections of fairly used clothes popularly called ‘Gwanjo’ in Hausa. But most of the sections have since the existence of the market witnessed one fire incident or the other with the most severe in 2002, 2010, 2013 and 2018.

The latest fire outbreak in the market had engulfed a section of Timber B where thousands of timbers are stored and various carpentry fabrications take place. Last week’s Thursday midnight fire had affected 36 shops, mostly timber sheds and claimed goods worth over N31 million, according to the Chairman of Timber B, Alh. Yusuf Aliyu. But for the timely intervention and experience of the Fire Service, Aliyu said the damage caused by the fire would have been extreme.

Approaching the market days after the incident, the smell of burnt wood mixed in metal and plastic is now masked by the choking smell of fresh wood emanating from the return of carpentry activities. The ground is however covered in black moist from the remains of ashes mixed with sand and rainwater while piles of burnt corrugated roofing sheets which before then, provided shelter for stockpile of timber and workers is shoved to the side.

There are still gloomy faces among the youths who were once labourers. The incident has crippled their means of livelihood, said Ibrahim Abba, one of the labourers. Carpenters and wood merchants who are the main victims of the fire incident are however making efforts at reconstruction to get back the life consumed by the midnight inferno. Chunmada Maji, 38, who used to own a furniture shop in the market, said all that was left of the shop he occupied with two others were piles of ashes.

“There were beds I was contracted to make and other furniture work but all that have perished in the fire,” he said.

“We have lost goods worth over N600, 000 in my shop and while some of our customers sympathise and are willing to incur the loss, there are those who insist on either a refund for the value of their goods or want their goods delivered,” he said.

Though traders in the market claim the fire was triggered by an electric fault when electricity was restored to the area, the Plateau State Police Command said the Fire Service had not ascertained the actual cause of the incident. The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tyopev Tern, stated that the fire outbreak had destroyed some shops but said there was no casualty in the incident.

For many of the victims, it is déjà vu having been victims of past fire incidents in the same market. 62-year-old Yakubu Hassan Bade who has owned a shop in the market since 1976, said the latest incident was the fifth that consumed his valuables.

“I am a carpenter; I make doors, beds and chairs. I lost my entire shop in the latest fire including my sawing machines. I was given a contract to make and deliver beds and doors and I had gone half way in the construction but all is now lost,” he said.

For 67-year-old Suleiman Mu’azu Sarki, a timber merchant who is also counting his losses, the fire incident had claimed his timber and carpentry workshop. He said being the centre of woodwork in Jos, carpenters from other communities in Jos often receive furniture contracts from clients, only to transfer them to carpenters at Laranto to actualise.

“So, in this circumstance, how do you explain to the carpenter from town that you cannot deliver the job or pay him because of a fire incident? Not many will understand,” he said.

Mahmud Adam Abduallah, the Secretary of Timber B section said so far, no assistance has come to the victims except from a “good Samaritan” they referred to as Sadiq Plaza. Abdallah said timber worth N26 million and drilling, sawing, turning and planning machines worth N5 million as well as office items worth N950, 000 were lost in the fire.

But there is hope as the Plateau State government on Thursday sent a delegation led by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Danladi Atu, to commiserate with the victims.

Prof. Atu had explained that Governor Simon Bako Lalong was saddened by the incident, especially since the market provided an avenue for hundreds of youths to become self reliant. He assured the market authority that their request as tendered to him will be forwarded to the governor.

The chairman of Timber B said the market authority had approached the Jos Electricity Distribution Company to come up with a central switch that would ensure that power supply to the market is completely turned off at night. On his part the central chairman of the market, Eze Echezona, said requests made to the governor include assisting the victims to get back on their feet as well as ensuring the market gets the central switch.

Echezona said, “There are hundreds of people feeding from just this section of the market because it is an industry where all manner of woodwork is fabricated.” He said the entire market had witnessed over 30 fire incidents since its existence and that the central switch will be a permanent solution to the almost annual fire incident when implemented.

Giving a brief history of the market, Alhaji Aliyu Umar, 72, who was one of the first traders to receive shop allocations in the 1970’s, said Laranto market was established sometime between 1975 and1967, adding that allocations for shops started with the kola nut sellers.

Umar said the first fire incident was about eight years after the market was established and stressed that while the timber section had experienced about 15 fire outbreaks, the entire market had witnessed over 30 incidents.