Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Sunday, hinted at possible relocation of the Araromi Auto Spare Parts Market, Agodi- Gate, Ibadan, which was razed on Saturday.
Makinde, who inspected the market alongside some key government functionaries, expressed sadness over the loss of shops and goods worth millions of naira to the inferno.
The President of the Market Traders, Mr Moruf Olanrewaju, conducted the governor and his entourage around the market to see the level of destruction.
Makinde sympathised with the victims of the inferno and promised to assist them.
He hinted that the market might be moved to a more spacious location where the traders would be able to carry out their trading activities in more convenient ways.
The governor, however, said that the idea of relocating the market would be a collective decision of the representatives of the traders and the state government.
He, therefore, directed the market leaders to organise themselves and send their representatives to his office on Monday, April 5, for a deliberation on the way forward.
The governor further urged the market leaders to compile a list of major victims of the fire disaster for immediate palliatives to cushion the effect of the ugly incident.
The auto spare parts market was razed by fire in the early hours of Saturday.
The inferno started from the tyre’s section of the market and spread to other parts.
Though men of the state fire service responded on time, they could not curtail the inferno because the fire-fighting trucks couldn’t reach inside the market due to blockage of the road by goods.