Shop owners at the inferno-ravaged Nigerian postal service shopping complex late Saturday night urged the state government to help cushion their losses due to the fire outbreak, Vanguard reports.

This is as fire destroyed properties in the inferno at the shopping complex worth millions of naira that was learned due to a blast from one of the store.

A late evening fire incident had destroyed about ten shops inside the shopping complex about 6 pm but was stopped by firefighters from spreading to the NIPOST office.

Chief Awawu Asindemade, speaking with journalists at the scene of the incident on Sunday, the Iyaloja of the state, said the unfortunate incident will cause trouble for shop owners unless the state government intervenes to cushion the impact of the loss on their businesses.

“The extent of the fire had shown that goods worth millions of naira had been razed by the infernor, a loss which is likely to ruin the life of victims, except the state government comes to their rescue”, she said.

Unfortunately, one of the victims, Olojo Titi, who sells clothing, said she was on her way to Ilesa when she was called to say that the complex was on fire, adding that she had only recently stocked new products and had not yet made any sales prior to the incident.

In my store, the products are worth N980,000 and all of them die in the outbreak of fire. My neighbor's shop, Mama Malik, has a store worth over N20 million, and as you can see, there's nothing in the complex that can be spared. When she got the news, another shop owner landed in the hospital, even though she responded to treatment but could barely walk, she added.

Meanwhile, Basiri Adijat, the state's Federal Fire Service spokesman, said the incident was reported to the department about 7 p.m. and staff were sent to the scene.

However, they were prevented from putting out the fire on time by hoodlums unleashing terror on the state at about the same time.

“We deployed our men to the scene but the hoodlums that were on the rampage in Osogbo did not allow them to perform there duties at the scene”, she said.