MATAN Calls For Prayers Over Incessant Market Fires

The Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN) has appealed to both Islamic and Christian clerics to offer special prayers to end incessant market fires across the country.

The President of the association, Alhaji Jamilu Abbas, made the appeal in an interview with the press in Abuja on Sunday.

Abbas decried the incidents of inferno in various parts of the country in the last year, saying prayer is key to end the unfortunate and ugly development.

He also urged the religious leaders to admonish their faithful to stop vices like scandals, cheating, pettiness, envy, gender-based violence, as well as sexual harassment in their business premises.

He also encouraged traders to pay alms and Zakat to appreciate God, in order to cleanse their trades.

Meanwhile, the president appealed to Federal and State Governments to redeem their pledges of assisting the victims of the fire incidents to ameliorate their suffering.

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Abbas noted that many of the traders who had lost all they had to fire disasters were currently out of business, hence such intervention would help them to bounce back.

He however recalled the number of market fire incidences across the country between November 2020 and March 2021 to include the Potiskum market in Yobe, Katsina, Tudun Wada Gusau, Ibadan, Onitsha, FCT, Kaduna, and Sokoto, among others.

He advised members across the country to respect constituted authorities and the rules of host communities to prevent disasters.

He noted that losses of lives and property were not only affecting individuals but the nation as they affect the economic growth of the country.