Twelve stores housing assorted goods estimated at N60 million were destroyed on Saturday, December 16, by an early morning fire in the densely populated Road Block area of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
One of the affected persons, Mohammed Musa a.k.a Baba Gas, who was an eyewitness said that the fire was sparked by a process of refuelling irrigation engines by dry season farmers who were preparing to go to work that early morning.
Musa who identified himself as chairman, Black Marketers of Jalingo, said goods that were lost include: second hand clothes, phone accessories, plastic and leather materials, farm produce and fuel belonging to black marketers.
He said: “I witnessed the inferno and how people were trying to control it but the damage had already been done. The fire consumed at least 12 stores belonging to small traders who use them to keep their wares.