Lagos begins demolition of burnt Balogun Market

The Lagos State Government on Friday began the demolition of the three buildings gutted by fire on Jan. 12 at the popular Balogun Market in Central Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the demolition was being carried out by a firm, Blackrock Construction Company.

Fire gutted the buildings housing about 100 shops and destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

Officials of the company who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity said that it was the government that gave directive for the buildings to be demolished.

The head of the demolition team who did not state how many days the demolition would take, said that the work would take some time to finish.

Mrs Uju Agunna, a trader who sold clothes in one of the shops gutted, told NAN that she would rent the same place anytime the shops were rebuilt.

``I will like to go back to my shop. I have been in this Balogun for over 15 years so it is difficult for me to go and rent somewhere else.

``We hope that when the demolition exercise is completed the owners can start building. But now I am sharing a shop with my friend as you can see,’’ Agunna said.

She, however, said that she had to begin retail trading to find her feet again because she lost up to five million naira worth of goods to the fire.

Another victim, Mr Aliu Gbadamosi, said that since his two shops got burnt, he was yet to rent a place to display his wares.

``I have goods worth over N25 million but they are still in a warehouse. I have not been able to sell them since the incident happened in January.

`` I borrowed money to import the goods and now it will be difficult for me to pay as at when due.