A fire outbreak on Monday night destroyed no fewer than 10 shops at the Iya Maryam Adebara Complex in the Ogunpa Market area of Ibadan, Oyo State, leaving traders counting their losses.
The Chairman of the Oyo State Fire Services Agency, Moroof Akinwande, confirmed the incident in a statement released on Tuesday in Ibadan.
According to him, the agency received a distress call at exactly 8:11 p.m. from the Baale of Ogunpa, Alhaji Nurudeen Lawal, reporting a raging fire within the market complex.
Firefighters were immediately deployed to the scene and arrived to find about 10 shops already engulfed in flames.
“Our officers responded promptly and swung into action to contain the fire,” Akinwande said. “They were able to prevent the fire from spreading to adjoining shops and nearby properties.”
He added that personnel of the Federal Fire Service also joined efforts to fully extinguish the blaze, helping to limit further destruction within the busy commercial area.
Preliminary investigations by the fire service attributed the incident to the fueling of a generator while it was still in operation by one of the shop occupants.
Akinwande confirmed that no casualties were recorded during the incident, while goods worth millions of naira were reportedly destroyed.
He commended officers of the Iyaganku Police Division for providing security and crowd control during the firefighting operation, ensuring that emergency responders carried out their duties without obstruction.
The Ogunpa Market is one of Ibadan’s major trading hubs, known for its dense clusters of shops and heavy use of power generators due to inconsistent electricity supply. Fire incidents linked to generator mishandling have remained a recurring concern in markets across the state.
The Oyo State Fire Services Agency once again urged traders and residents to observe safety precautions, especially when using generators and other electrical equipment, to prevent similar incidents.
