The Benue state government has approved the sum of N50 million to cushion the effect of traders who lost their valuables at the fire incident that razed Otukpo main Market in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state.
Governor Ortom during a visit disclosed that 315 shops out of over 5,000 shops in the Market were razed.
According to him, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained as at press time on Tuesday, adding that government was yet to quantify the cost of items lost to the inferno.
Ortom, who carried out an on-the-spot assessment of damage caused by the fire in Otukpo yesterday also sympathised with the chairman of the traders association, market community, particularly those that lost their goods and shops to the fire.
He however, noted that the damage may have been averted had the traders allowed government to carry out the planned restructuring it had in mind at the market.
Governor Ortom also set up a Committee which will include the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to harmonise issues at the market and come out with modalities for restructuring the market.
