No fewer than 50 shops on Tuesday night were razed at Bodija plank market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Millions worth of goods were reportedly consumed by the fire.
Many victims, who were appealing to the state government to come to their aid financially, lamented about their losses.
A trader, Ahmed Abdulwasiu, who was injured the inferno at the market in Ibadan North Local Government Area, is currently receiving treatment at Calvary Baptist Hospital, Bodija, Ibadan.
Abdulwasiu, who spoke with newsmen, said he was trying to salvage some of the goods in his shop when was caught by the fire but said he was lucky to have been rescued by people.
Another victim, Mutiu Olaoluwa, a furniture trader, said: “I was outside my shop when i suddenly heard the fire upsurge. Before I knew it, the flames covered everywhere. I couldn’t take anything out. Over 75 doors belonging to my customer were burnt. My N120,000 plank was also burnt.
“I lost over N5 million to the fire because all my equipment, generator and machines were burnt. All I have been labouring for the past 30 to 40 years was burnt.”
Also a plank dealer, Adeniyi Ogunmola, said: “I was here yesterday around 4:30 pm, the fire started from a carpenter shop behind my shop, I went there to see what was going on, on my way back to my shop to carry my equipment, the fire came to my shop in less than five minutes.”
“If not for people that carried me out of the fire, I would have died by now, I just came back from the market where I loaded a full trailer of plank, I lost about N6 million goods to the incident.”
