Properties worth millions destroyed as Fire guts ATBU Student Centre in Yelwa campus

From Paul Omokuvie Bauchi

There are tears and sorrow in Bauchi State as properties worth millions of naira were destroyed following an outbreak of fire that consumed no fewer than 42 shops at the Students Centre, Yelwa Campus of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, on Wednesday.

Our correspondent discovered that shops on block D destroyed included – computer business centres, barbing saloon and daily needs stores.

The time the fire started was unknown but many believed that it started at about 2 am (Wednesday) and was reportedly caused by an electrical fault.

When Nigeria Correspondents visited the area, multiple sources in the university said that no fire service was available to salvage the situation.

A source told our Correspondent that the School Fire Service not too far from the main gate of the University could not salvage the situation because their truck was not in good shape.

 Those affected said 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 had 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, the victim explained.

“They said they kept writing to the management to release money for the purchase of a new battery, but they allegedly said that there was no money,” he narrated.

“They said they also contacted the Federal Fire Service but they that they don’t have tires in their truck, but I cannot verify how true that is. But it’s unfortunate that because of the ineffectiveness of the fire service, this great damage happened. I believe that if there were fire fighters, the fire would have been put out these shops and properties would have been saved.

Some of victims, who spoke with our correspondent, said they received calls at about 4am on from informing him that their shops were on fire”