Properties worth millions of naira lost as fire razes shops in varsity

Properties worth millions of naira have been lost in Bauchi State. This is as fire razes dozens of shops at the Student Centre of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU).

The shops, according to multiple reports, numbered no less than 42, and they were the ones behind the female hostel at the Yelwa campus of the tertiary institution.

The inferno which started in the early hours of Wednesday, June 15, 2022, as a result of an electrical fault, destroyed computer business centres, barbing salons and provision stores.

“I learnt that when the fire started, they alerted the university fire service, but they said that the battery of the truck was faulty. They said they’ve reported to the management for a release of money for it to be fixed or for a new one to be bought, but nothing was done.

“They also contacted the Federal Fire Service. It’s unfortunate that because of the ineffectiveness of the fire service, this damage happened. I believe that if there were firefighters, the fire would have been put out and property would have been saved,” a source who witnessed the incident stated.

One Alfred Joseph who runs a computer business Centre in the school, stated that he was alerted by his friend.

“I am not currently in Bauchi. I travelled to Abuja and a friend called me this morning to inform me of the incident. He told me that everything in my shop was burnt.

“All my property, including photocopiers, computers, laptops, printers, stationery, generator and everything I had in that shop was destroyed. It’s unfortunate,” he said as he lamented that losing a business of six years to such an incident was heartbreaking. 

Another victim Hosea Mathias attributed the inferno to electrical fault, saying he lost everything he had worked for in his life.

According to Mathias, amongst the things he lost were shops, computers, printers, and PoS machines.