By Usman Usman Garba
Traders affected by the fire disaster at Singer Market in Kano State have renewed calls on the Kano State and Federal Governments to fulfil their promises of assistance, saying the prolonged delay is making it increasingly difficult for them to rebuild their businesses and restore their livelihoods.
The traders said several months after the incident, many victims were still struggling with the financial consequences of the disaster. Some, they said, remained unable to fully resume business operations due to the loss of goods, capital and other valuable properties.
The leader of the affected traders, Alhaji Kabiru Ado Garo, made the appeal while addressing journalists, saying the victims were not seeking mere sympathy but practical intervention that would enable them to recover from the losses suffered in the fire.
According to him, the disaster destroyed businesses worth millions of naira and left many traders without the capital needed to restock their shops.
He said although the authorities had given assurances that assistance would be provided, the affected traders were yet to receive the promised support.
Garo therefore appealed to the Kano State and Federal Governments to urgently review the situation and introduce a recovery programme that could provide financial assistance, access to soft loans and other forms of support to enable the victims to restart their businesses.
Some of the affected traders also appealed to humanitarian organisations, wealthy individuals and other well-meaning members of society to support them, saying such intervention would help thousands of families whose livelihoods were severely affected by the disaster.
The traders stressed that fulfilling the government’s earlier promises would not only ease their current hardship but also enable them to return to productive commercial activities and regain their economic independence.
