What a sad day it has been for Sims Nigeria Limited, the franchise operators of the Samsung Electronics outlet on the popular Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos.
Since morning, the place has been on fire – with the Lagos State Fire Service still battling to put it off. Their trucks have been going to and fro, struggling to tame the fire which has already caused a serious traffic in the whole of Allen/Opebi/Toyin axis.
The cause of the fire, with its offensive smoke and odour, is not known. However, a fire fighter who spoke to us assured that it will ultimately be contained. ‘The inability to stop the fire so soon has been because of the way the place was configured. The whole place was padded with plastic materials, and that is why the fire is still raging. Plastics latch on to fire easily, but we are going to defeat it.’
On lookers, with their arms folded and some with their noses covered, are all over the place watching the fire fighters do their work. And also cursing the misfortune that has crossed the path of the business owners. ‘This is such a huge loss. Only an insurance company can rescue one from this’, one of them lamented.
Meanwhile, YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine gathered that the place was renovated just before Christmas. But now everything has been destroyed by the fire which has done so much damage inside. Electronics worth millions of Naira have been lost to the fire which is still doing more harm and damage to the owners. Likewise the building, a story building, housing the business.