At the Lagos Balogun Market, on Monday, a three- storey building with 20 built-up shops and three warehouses were burnt to ashes, goods worth millions of naira were also destroyed.

It was said that Eighty-six traders in the cosmetics and hair attachment section had their shops razed.

The National Emergency Management Authority, NEMA,  confirmed that there was no loss of life.

Although, there were conflicting reports on the cause of the fire as it was said to have started in the afternoon.

During the market leadership attributions, it was caused by clustered power-generating sets used by the traders, the latter alleged that it was arson.

Mrs Janet James, one of the affected traders, who spoke with the newsmen lamented that she took a loan to buy new set of cosmetics in the shop.

Mrs Janet, who stared at the ruins of what she uses to feed her family, and her only livelihood, stated “I don’t know where to start from. I just bought goods worth over N10 million, with a loan.

“I had to wait until the dollar rate dropped. I have not sold one per cent of the goods when this happened.

Another trader, who was heart broken to mention his name was heard crying before some of his friends, who were consoling him.

He said: “ Somebody must have done this because nobody has been able to state where the fire started from. It was not caused by a power generating set. Whoever did it has sown evil and will reap the same.”

The Iya Oloja, Hair Attachment and Cosmetics section, Alhaja Kemi Gbajumo and Baba Oja of Breadfruit, Balogun market, Prince Adewunmi Balogun, who were at the scene, expressed sadness over the losses of the traders.

Ibrahim Farinloye, South West Coordinator of NEMA, stated that,  “No one could give information on the exact cause of the fire. But the market leadership decried traders filling a building with too many power generators that the traders use during the day.”