An Internally Displaced Person Camp in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has been gutted by fire.
The inferno occurred on Wednesday morning, at the Custom House IDP camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri metropolis.
It was learnt that the incident which started at about 6am, according to some displaced persons at the camp, destroyed about 620 shelters leading to the death of a child with two old women injured.
One of the IDPs said, “The fire outbreak consumed parts of the camp and was put out by the combined efforts of the IDPs, security agents and officials of the federal and state fire service.
“Surprisingly enough, when everyone thought the doom was over, a fire broke out in another part of the same camp (Customs IDP camp) about four hours later, destroying many of the makeshift tents.”
Spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency in the North-East, Mallam AbdulKadir Ibrahim, said a team of emergency workers had been deployed to ascertain the level of damage at the camp.
He said, “It is sad that after a series of lectures organised for the IDPs on how to handle fire and to cook, they keep making mistakes that continue to cause infernos.
“Two days ago, there was an inferno at Nganzai camp and just today (Wednesday) there is this one at the Customs IDP camp.”
Ibrahim added, “We (NEMA) are left with no other choice but to continue to enlighten the displaced persons on how to handle fire and cook.”
