A fire razed a section of Iwoukpom community in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Friday, leaving more than 4,000 residents homeless.
More than 200 houses are believed to have been affected by the inferno in the fishing community, which is mostly populated by Yoruba people.
Eyewitnesses said that properties running into millions were destroyed.
Vice Chairman of Ibeno LGA, Mr. Sunday Isokobo, who visited the scene of the incident, commiserated with those affected by the inferno.
He disclosed that wooden houses and fishing equipment destroyed in the incident ran into many millions of naira but no life was lost.
However, he expressed the council’s readiness to support the victims.
Isokobo said, “We will give them relief materials to start with and think of permanent ways of giving them back hope, especially the fishermen who had lost their livelihood to the inferno.
“It is a pity that the inferno also affected my father’s house; I am begging the government, donor agencies, international communities, oil companies to come to their aid.”
The leader of the Yoruba community, Mr. Foli Ogungbemi, said that the cause of the incident remained unknown.
Ogungbemi, who is Special Adviser to the Chairman of Ibeno on Non-indigenes Matters, said that the incident left many residents running for dear lives.
He added that many of the residents, therefore, could not salvage any of their property as they managed to escape the fire.
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