The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to make available funds to support traders who had their wares destroyed by fire at the Pedestrian Shopping Centre close to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.
According to President Akufo-Addo, this is to help the affected traders recover from their losses.
He also indicated that the government will undertake re-wiring of all markets in the Greater Accra Region to forestall such tragic occurrences in the future.
“On Wednesday, 18th November 2020, I visited the Odawna Market, where hundreds of stalls were destroyed by a fire outbreak, in the early hours of this morning.”
“Through the NBSSI, support is going to be provided to the over 3,000 persons affected by the fire, within two (2) weeks. I also indicated that the Government will undertake the re-wiring of all markets in Greater Accra to forestall such tragic occurrences in the future.”
President Akufo-Addo made this known in a post on his social media handles.
The running mate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang also paid a visit to the Odawna market.
According to her, it was to show “empathy and solidarity’ to the traders who are counting their losses over the fire outbreak.
“I was at the Odawnaa market this morning to express my empathy and solidarity with our hardworking entrepreneurs and traders whose wares and stalls were lost to ravaging fire at dawn listening to their harrowing stories. I also saw at first-hand the full extent of the damage. But in all, we are grateful to God that no lives were lost. I hope we shall all be there for our compatriots to assist with the restoration and rehabilitation process”, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang stated.
Fire gutted the Odawna market around the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange on November 18, 2020, at about 1 am.
Personnel from the Fire Service were brought in to bring the fire under control.
An eyewitness John Ofori told Citi News that “We saw the smoke from afar, so we thought it was the [GCB] bank but it was instead coming from the market. It took the Fire Service about two hours to douse the fire.”
