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As Tinubu, APC Governors Donate N8bn to Victims
- Safiu Kehinde
The Senate has on Tuesday called for probe over the root cause of the inferno that razed the Singer Market in Kano, a major commercial hub in Northern Nigeria.
The lawmakers made the call during their plenary session yesterday.
While expressing concern over the incident, they also directed the National Emergency Management Agency to provide immediate relief materials to affected victims.
Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who raised the matter under a point of order, said the inferno destroyed property worth over N100 billion and crippled more than 1,000 businesses.
Jibrin stressed that the affected enterprises were largely small and medium-scale operators, regarded as the backbone of the local economy and critical drivers of commerce.
According to him, seven persons remain missing after the incident, leaving traders and their families in anguish amid mounting economic hardship and uncertainty.
Preliminary findings, he said, pointed to faulty firefighting infrastructure, weak emergency response systems and absence of modern safety mechanisms as factors that worsened the disaster.
Seconding the motion, Sen. Kawu Sumaila (Kano South) underscored the market’s strategic importance to regional and international trade, employment generation and broader economic activities across Northern Nigeria.
He commended President Bola Tinubu and Northern governors elected on the All Progressives Congress (APC) for donating N8 billion to support the victims of the inferno.
Sumaila said that the president contributed N5 billion, while the APC governors collectively donated N3 billion to assist traders struggling to recover from the losses.
In her remarks, Sen. Ireti Kingibe urged the senate to take concrete steps to ease the suffering of the victims.
Similarly, Sen. Diket Plang warned that the massive losses, coupled with low insurance coverage among traders, could fuel unemployment and heighten social instability.
Sen. Ahmed Wadada also called for thorough investigation into the root causes, noting that the same market had suffered a similar fire weeks earlier.
Wadada cautioned that repeated outbreaks demanded urgent scrutiny, stressing that lawmakers must determine the underlying triggers behind the persistent incidents.
In its resolutions, the senate directed NEMA to assess the extent of the damage and urgently provide relief materials to the affected traders.
The lawmakers also mandated NEMA to work with security agencies to intensify efforts to locate the seven persons still reported missing.
The upper chamber further instructed the Federal Fire Service to conduct a comprehensive audit of safety compliance, enforce maintenance regulations and establish functional fire stations in the area.
The senate appreciated Tinubu and APC governors for their financial interventions, describing the donations as timely support for the devastated traders.
Concluding deliberations, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, expressed the hope that the funds would aid recovery and offered prayers for victims of the tragic incident.