Lamentations trail Unizik Fire, Millions Worth Property lost
By Chukwudi Ndubeze
Lamentations have followed the fire incident at the business hub of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University behind faculty of Art of the institution.
It was a black day for the business owners mostly typists and cyber cafe operators as properties worth millions of naira was burnt beyond recognition in the early hours of Friday.
The fire incident affected all the photocopying and cyber cafe section of the ever-busy center located behind the Faculty of Arts sparing only the food section of the area.
Odogwublog.com gathered that the fire started around 11 pm, Thursday after the shop owners had closed work for the day and gone to their various homes.
Following the incident, the victims have been subjected to sorrow and agony as they watched the remains of their hard-earned properties burn beyond repair.
Speaking to Odogwublog.com, a shop owner, Chima Augustine lamented that he lost his Printer machine, photocopying machine, and new generator estimated at seven hundred thousand nairas he recently bought earlier this year to give his small shop a little boost having suffered dearly during the COVID-19 era.
Another victim who simply gave her name as Blessing was devastated by the incident saying that all her life effort had been destroyed by the fire. Blessing said she managed to raise her shop after many years of apprenticeship to a colleague before she could start her own business.
With tears in her eyes, she has nowhere else to start life as her whole property at the shop was burnt to ashes leaving not a pin. ” I closed from work around 8 pm and returned peacefully to my house at First market, Ifite road. Around 1 am, I was called to hear that my shop was under fire. As I came the following morning, I could not pick even a single pin from the shop I used my whole life savings to equip.” She said her saving grace was her laptop she usually carries home at work closure every day to continue with work at her house.
Another victim named frank said he was engraved in shock by the incident as he lost everything he had labored for. He called on the university management and good spirited individuals to come to their rescue as he claimed the business is his family’s source of income.
Another victim, Mr. Maurice Asoanya was filled with tears as he narrated to Orient Daily how he managed to set up his shop having graduated from the university. According to him, “after I graduated from the university, I had no job and no one to give me a job. I started selling sweets and biscuits at one corner of the center to make ends meet. with time and determination, I managed to raise a cyber cafe before the ugly incident took place.
I use the proceeds I make from the cyber cafe business to train my kids in school but now that I have no more shop I don’t know what to do again.”
Mr. Asoanya who is the chairman
of the UNIZIK business center though not certain about the actual cause of the fire, blamed administrative lapses on the part of the management for the inferno stating that the school of Unizik magnitude should have a working security department that can spot signs of danger in the school for early intervention.
He said that the inferno has shown that the security system in the university is porous and blamed the school management for not having a fire management facility to control such a disaster if it happens.
He further noted that the management after visiting the scene of the fire disaster has assured that they will help the victims with palliatives to restart their businesses.
Though no life was lost, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained but the management has embarked on an investigation to unravel the actual cause of the fire.
