Fire destroys ‘500 shops’ at Jos Terminus market

A midnight fire has reportedly destroyed more than 500 makeshift shops at the Terminus market in Jos north LGA of Plateau state.

During a visit to the market on Wednesday, Joyce Ramnap, commissioner for information and communications in Plateau, said the fire broke out around midnight and destroyed several shops.

She added that the state government will launch an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.

“From eyewitness report, particularly from the leadership of the market, we gathered that an electric spark may have caused the fire outbreak,” she said.

“But we are not going to leave it at that; we will investigate to ascertain the root cause of the outbreak.

“This is unfortunate because more than 500 shops have been destroyed; this is a huge economic loss to the state.”

Ramnap also sympathised with the affected traders and asked residents not to spread false information about the incident on social media.

Mustapha Ibrahim, chairman of the market, said the damage was “massive” and called for government support to ease the burden on the traders.