An ill-fated night inferno has razed the famous Bowlis Industries Nigeria Limited at Rafin-Pa in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Bowlis, the makers of Vowles and Realine Pomade (Jelly) and perfumes, The Eagle Online has gathered, was engulfed by fire at about 11pm on Thursday.
This was about the time when electricity was restored at the company.
The General Manager of the company, Malam Abubakar Muhammad, told The Eagle Online that operations for the day ended early because there was no electricity.
Muhammad, however, said he was alerted by some of the company’s neighbours who told him that fire had engulfed the factory.
He said: “They told me that electricity was restored and they heard a sound of spark from a high tension wire, which dropped on the zinc of our production unit.
“They thought it was just the spark.
“They all went back into their homes, but latter discovered that fire had engulfed the place.”
Muhammad said as soon as he arrived the place, men of the state fire service were called upon and promptly responded with three of their trucks.
He said: “One came first, but the fire was too much.
“They called for reinforcement, which they got from Bukuru and the state Government House.
“The fire was put out with the combined efforts of the neighbouring community at about 12:45am.”
Muhammad confirmed no life was lost and even no injuries were recorded as a result of the fire incident.
He said the fire, which engulfed the warehouse, spread to the production, packaging and storage sections and had caused loss of raw materials and finished products.
He said: “The raw materials was worth N58,614,800, while the finished products worth N10,670,500, Siemena mixer machines as well as small, medium and big fire extinguishers worth N4,425,000 were the estimated loss.”
Muhammad said consumable items destroyed by the fire was worth N5,701, 500, while other items destroyed are being quantified, adding: “In summary, we have in the interim quantified over N80 million loss.”
According to him, the industry was established in 2003 and duly incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission and it has 40 permanent staff, with other 60 casual workers.
The General Manager debunked insinuations that the sound heard during the incident were that of explosives device, saying: “The sound heard were those of the chemicals contained in their containers.”
He called on the government to come to their aid so that the factory can be put back into proper work.
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