Iponri Market Fire Outbreak: REA Commiserate With Traders, Assures Support, Electrification Of Over 80,000 Shops

REA MD, Damilola Ogunbiyi

By CLEMENT NWOJI, Abuja

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has commiserated with the traders at the Iponri Market, Lagos over the recent fire outbreak, assuring that the incident would not deter it from electrifying over 80,000 shops located in the market.

It recalled that fire occurred at Iponri Market, Lagos State, on April 15th, 2019 at around 7:00 pm. and affected about 17 shops even though there was no loss of life.

A statement by Ayang Ogbe, REA Director of Promotions (Information and Outreach) assured its committment to providing the necessary support to the affected traders.

He said: “Although the exact cause of the fire is still unknown. It has been confirmed that the fire was not caused by the clean solar system powering many shops within Iponri market.

“As a result of the fire, meters and cable networks across some of the affected shops already connected to the Energizing Economies solar powered system were destroyed.”

Further, “IMESL had to shut down the solar system in order to conduct a comprehensive asset and systems assessment. We are also working hard to restore electricity to the market in coordination with the Iponri Market Association”, said the Iponri Market Energy Solutions Limited (IMESL) representative, Mr. Ademola Adeshina.

The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is implementing the Energizing Economies initiative (EEI) which provides clean, safe and reliable electricity to economic clusters across Nigeria working with private sector developers. Iponri Market is one of many phase 1 markets benefiting from this initiative.

“This unfortunate incident will not deter EEI’s objective to electrify over 80,000 shops, empower over 340,000 micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs), create over 2,500 jobs with the initial 16 economic clusters while serving over 18 million Nigerians.

“It is a stark reminder that safe electricity installations and practices are paramount. It is a requirement on all EEI projects and a measure we take very seriously”, said Damilola Ogunbiyi, REA Managing Director.

The Energizing Economies Initiative is already having transformational impact on businesses in Iponri market as well as other markets across the country through steady power supply, increased economic activity and business growth, job creation and enhancing the customer experience.