The popular Oja-Tuntun market in Baboko area of Ilorin, Kwara state capital, was on Thursday night gutted by ravaging fire.
The inferno destroyed six out of 1,070 lockup shops in the market.
The fire happened around 7:30pm on the ill-fated day.
Spokesperson of Kwara Fire Service Hassan Adekunle confirmed the incident, adding that firemen rose to the occasion of dousing the flame.
Adekunle attributed the cause of the inferno to carelessness of one of the shop owners in the market.
He said: “The inferno was subdued by the firepower of the Fire crew which did not allow it spread beyond the seat of fire.
“The leading officer of crew who attended the incident announced that they arrived promptly at the scene and they were able to limit the damage caused by the ravaging fire out of 1,070 Lockup shops, six shops affected,
“The officer added further that the cause of the fire incident was due to carelessness of the one of shop owner.”
He put the worth of the property saved at N2.6bn and the worth of the property lost at about N89.7 million.