Obaseki orders investigation as Biggest shopping mall in Benin razed by mid-night fire

Phil-Hallmark is the largest single shopping centre in Benin CityPhil HallMark located at the Benin Sapele Rd got caught up in fire on the 10th-11th of Dec 2016. The cause of the fire incident is yet unknown, but this came up not so long after a new building structure and large renovation took place in the Mall. 

Speaking while inspecting the charred relics of Phil-Hallmark ultra-modern shopping centre in Benin City on Sunday, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who was met on arrival by a member of Edo State House of Assembly, representing Oredo East Constituency, Hon. Chris Okaeben, expressed shock at the unfortunate incident and ordered for a full scale investigation into the cause of the fire disaster.

The Governor, who met, sympathized and interacted with the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Phil-Hallmark, Philip Edigin said, “This is a catastrophe. I mean this is a major disaster for us and this is the only one we have. Like you said this is the largest super-mall we have in the state. And for this sort of incident at this time of the year, it is a catastrophe and we should all be concerned.”

On what the state government will do to avert further occurrence of such incident, the Governor, who met, sympathized and interacted with Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the burnt super mart said, “I have asked for a detailed report and investigation into this and by Tuesday morning, I should get it, and we will now ensure that we make publicity that every public building, every place you are going to have a lot of traffic and Christmas activities must have a fire disaster plan.”

He appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to assist the fire service in cases like this.

In his reaction, Governor Godwin Obaseki, was shocked over the State Fire Service’s claim of lack of equipment, as he ordered immediate cause of the fire.

“This incident happening at this time of the year is a catastrophe,” .

“I have asked for written report and investigation into the cause of the fire.

“We will also investigate the claim by an official of the state Fire service on the allegation of lack of equipment.

“Because I understand that trucks were distributed by the NDDC and the State Government during the last administration,” Obaseki said during a visit to the site of the incident.

It was learnt that the fire started from the third floor following power surge from an inverter in one of the rooms, moments after power was restored to the area and the explosion spread from the top to the down floor of Phil HallMark, the multi-billion naira Mall in Edo State.

Although, no life was lost during the early morning inferno but goods and cash worth several billions of naira were destroyed in the process.

Investigations revealed that the management and staff of the super market had brought and offloaded truck loads of assorted goods on Saturday before the unfortunate occurrence, less than 24 hours yesterday morning.

There was heavy presence of armed mobile and regular policemen deployed to the scene to prevent looters from the area as alerted rescuers and staff struggled to save some goods in the heat of the incident.