A late night inferno gutted five of eight shops attached to a Union Bank building on 411 Road Junction, Gowon Estate, Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Egbeda late on Monday night.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fire was noticed at the makeshift shops at about 11.20 pm, shortly after electricity supply was taken by the providers, Ikeja Electric.
However, many of the shop owners had closed and gone home as some of them do not reside in the estate but resident salvaged some of goods with the assistance of youth.
NAN reports that the youth had put out the fire before the arrival of the men of the Lagos State Fire Service from Agege.
Residents and sympathisers urged the state government to install water hydrants and fire notices all over the estate.
They also lamented that some of the areas marked for development of infrastructure for sports, fire service stations and recreation had been sold to individuals by the FHA.
“The areas meant for these purposes have been built up. The last is the Kuwait Field which used to house sports facilities, including football, basketball, tennis and others had been appropriated by land grabbers.
“It has now become a shopping complex cum estate within an estate.
“It is regrettable that the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government are not doing much to ensure that the youth have their future their own way,” a resident told NAN anonymously.
A resident of the Union Bank building, who does not want his name in print, told NAN that most of the shop owners did not leave in the estate, adding that the cause of the fire has not been identified.
He commended the efforts of the residents, including the youth in containing the fire before the arrival of the men of the fire service who eventually quenched the raging fire.
One of the leaders in the estate, Alhaji Daud Oyebanji, also commended the youth for coming out en masse to contain the fire.
Oyebanji said that the youth ensured that there was no looting of the salvaged items from shops.
Meanwhile, a dry cleaning shop, a mini-cold room as well as a provision shop run by an octogenarian had every item in them destroyed by the inferno.
