A multi-million naira palm kernel oil extracting industry located at the Onuebonyi axis of Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State, has been gutted by fire.
Also burned were palm kernels worth over N170 million, refined and unrefined oil, and a Sienna bus.
The Executive Director of the industry, Mr. Emmanuel Alinchi, said he noticed fire and smoke emission in the industry at 1:17 a.m.
According to him, by the time the fire service arrived, the entire structure had already been engulfed in flames.
He appealed to the state government for intervention, emphasizing that all the extracting machines in the industry were destroyed by the fire.
A relative of the victim, Mr. Hillary Alinchi, said the cause of the fire incident was unknown as it happened at night.
He emphasized that the fire would have spread to other private buildings in the area if not for the resilience of the firefighters who arrived early.
He said, “The palm kernels alone are worth more than N170 million. Then you have the refined and unrefined oil, the building, and even a Toyota Sienna that were all destroyed. The machines were all burnt. If you add the machines, building, and other things burnt, it will be close to N500 million,” he lamented.
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He said about fifty workers had lost their jobs as a result of the inferno and appealed to Governor Francis Nwifuru to invoke the spirit of the People’s Charter of Needs to resuscitate the industry.
The Director of the State Fire Service, Mr. Raphael Ibiam, said his team arrived on time but decried that the industry was jam-packed with combustible materials.
He, however, pointed out that no lives were lost in the incident.
