No fewer than 50 shops, four houses and vehicles have been razed by fire in Lambata, Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State following a tanker explosion on Sunday night.
The explosion occurred late on Sunday after the driver of a tanker ladened with petrol on his way from Suleja axis of the road was said to have lost control and rammed into a trailer, which was coming from Minna and heading towards Suleja.
The collision, according to eyewitnesses, led to an explosion, which affected the shops and houses by the road side, with goods worth millions of Naira burnt.
The state government in recent time had issued a directive warning tanker drivers against indiscriminate parking of their vehicles.
But not much has been done in enforcing the directive as the trend had continued.
One of the affected persons, Julian Aluko, a widow with six children, said she lost all her goods and wonders how she will be able to cope with her children.
According to Aluko: “I couldn’t pick anything from my shop.
“Not even a pin.
“I have six children and now I just don’t know how I train them.
“My husband has died and since then it is from the shop that I train my children.”
Another trader, Friday Amaechi, whose four shops were completely razed down lamented about his losses, describing it as an eternal scar on him that he would never heal from till his death.
Amaechi said: “My four shops that I have laboured for, for years, have all gone.
“I am short of words.
“I don’t know where to go.
“I am owing many people because I collected the goods on credit.”
The Chairman of Gurara Local Government Area, Yusuf Wali, blamed the incident on the recklessness of tanker drivers who also park their vehicles indiscriminately by the road side, adding: “Despite efforts to stop the ugly situation, the tanker drivers have refused to heed to the directive.”
At the scene to access the level of damage were officials of both the State Emergency Management Agency, led by the Director General, Ahmed Inga, and the National Emergency Management Agency.
Inga said: “The Governor has directed that we carry out assessment of the situation and that is what we have done.
“No life has been lost, but two trucks, two motorcycles, 50 shops and four residential apartments with 16 rooms have been burnt down.
“It is really unfortunate what has happened, but we believe the state government will come to their aid.
“In the meantime, I urge the victims to remain calm.”
This is not the first time such an incident will occur at Lambata.
In 2004, a tanker got burnt with at least three persons killed.