Not less than 2000 houses were destroyed and 4,500 persons rendered homeless by a fire incident in Iwoukpom, a fishing settlement in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene, reports that properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed during the fire incident.
Some of the victims who spoke with our correspondent in Ibeno said the incident which occurred in the early hours of Friday had caused very big losses to the fishing community.
The victims therefore appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, provide relief materials and camp to the affected people to ameliorate their sufferings in the area.
One of the victims, Mrs Victoria Udoh, described the situation as unfortunate, saying that she was at a vigil when she received the sad news about the fire incident.
“I could not even pick a pin before the inferno rendered me homeless. All the fishing tools, my clothes, my money, everything got burnt! The entire building was raised completely and I could not pick a pin in the house,” the mother of three cried out.
She called on the State Government, well-meaning individuals, Multinational companies and NGOs to come to their rescue, lamenting that she no longer has roof over her head.
Udoh also called on National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide relief materials to the affected victims to ameliorate their sufferings.
Also speaking, Vice Chairman, Ibeno local government area, Hon. Sunday Isokobo, described the inferno as a “serious disaster”, saying that the inferno was so serious that nobody could penetrate when the fire was burning in the area.
“About 1 am this morning, I received a call from my brothers and sisters living in this fishing settlement at Iwoukpom, that there is a very serious fire disaster taking place here, before respite could get to them, the inferno had completely raised down a lot of buildings and wooden houses and uncountable fishing equipments worth millions of naira were destroyed in the area,” he said.
Isokobo however said that nobody could give the cause of the inferno at the time the reporter was filing his report and added that no life was lost during the inferno.
He promised to give relief materials to the affected families to ameliorate the sufferings of the victims and called on the state government, oil companies to come to the aid of the affected fire incident.
The Vice Chairman also appealed to State Government, Donor Agencies, International Communities among others as a matter of urgency to provide relief materials and camp to affected inferno victims.
“We will give them relief materials to start with and think of permanent ways of giving them back hope, especially the fisher men who had lost their livelihood to inferno.
“It is a pity that the inferno also affected my father’s house, I am begging government, donor agencies, international communities, oil companies to come to their aid,” Isokobo appealed.
The youth leader of Ibeno LGA, Mr Kingsley Asuquo expressed dissatisfaction to the inferno adding, that the fire incident destroyed completely everything in the environment including fishing equipment in the area.
“It is pathetic and the people have lost everything in their life, so there is no word that is qualified to explain the circumstances,” he cried out.
He said that over thousands of people had been rendered homeless and called on state government to provide internal displaced camp for the affected victims.
The leader of the Yoruba community, Mr Foli Ogungbemi, Special Adviser to the Chairman of Ibeno on non- indigenes said the entire place were settled mostly by the Yorubas.
“When the incident occurred, the people were running for their safety and none could really know the root cause of the inferno. Iwuokpum is highly populated with Yoruba indigenes and is the place that run the highest economic in Ibeno. “
Checks by journalists who toured round the area revealed that there was no fire service unit in the area and the one located in the Council was not functional.