By Fabian Ekeruche

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says that about 1,200 artisans who specialise in assorted fabric making have been rendered jobless by the inferno that engulfed the Tejuosho Market on Tuesday.

The Director-General, NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed, said this in a post-disaster loss and needs assessment report on Wednesday in Lagos.

Ahmed was represented by Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, the Zonal Coordinator, South West NEMA.

He confirmed that over 1,600 industrial, weeping and straight sewing machines were lost in the mid afternoon fire disaster that struck the popular Tejuosho Market.

Ahmed said that the fire, which cause cannot be confirmed, but rumoured to have been by someone trying to fill up a working generator which caught fire along the line.

The director-general, while consoling the traders, urged them not to see the situation as a temporary setback, but as a challenge that would bring greater success.

The assessment revealed that about 150 lock-up shops with at least eight registered traders were occupying each shop at the burnt Tejuosho market.