A late-night fire broke out at a shopping complex in Ibadan, Oyo State, destroying goods and property estimated to be worth millions of naira.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, June 1, at about 11:22 p.m. beside the Akin-Alamu Building along Papa Alakia Isebo Road. According to officials, five out of ten shops in the complex were affected by the blaze.
Confirming the incident in a statement issued in Ibadan, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Fire Service Reform and Agency Chairman, Moroof Adebayo Akinwande, said no lives were lost.
“Firefighters, led by CFS Adesina Olusoji, promptly deployed to the scene of the incident, and upon arrival, we found shops engulfed in flames. We quickly swung into action and restricted the fire from spreading to unaffected nearby shops and properties.” Akinwande said.
He noted that the fire was fully extinguished and salvage operations were carried out to recover as much property as possible. Preliminary investigations linked the cause of the fire to an electrical surge, which ignited combustible materials within one of the shops.
Akinwande urged shop owners and the general public to adopt basic fire safety practices, including switching off and unplugging electrical appliances after work hours, noting that such simple preventive steps can go a long way in saving lives and property