A multibillion naira motorcycle spare parts factory belonging to Louis Carter Industries Nigeria Limited located at Akaboukwu Uruagu Nnewi, Anambra State has been razed by a fire outbreak over the weekend. Company sources say that the fire outbreak started by 10:00pm raged for six hours despite the intervention of the men of the fire service who were said to have arrived one hour and thirty minutes after the fire had started.
According to the General Manager of the company, Mr Ndubisi Okoli , security men on duty alerted him of the incident and cried out for help as they could not put out the fire with industrial fire extinguishers at the factory which prompted the invitation of the fire service crew who arrived an hour and half later.
Speaking on the cause of the incident, Mr Okoli said a high tension electricity cable belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) exploded and sparked off fire to the section of the factory which he said destroyed raw materials and crushing machines worth over N500million as the building was completely razed, though no life was lost.
In his reaction, owner of the factory and Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of Louis Carter Group of Companies, Chief Louis Onwugbenu said the fire incident had caused a huge loss to the company that had hundreds of workers at the section that got burnt in its employ.
Onwugbenu acknowledged the effort of Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of the Innoson Group and member representing Nnewi North in Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon Nonso Smart who he said were physically present to motivate the fight against the fire. Chief Onwugbenu said it would cause him a huge amount of money to rebuild the factory, adding that he was uncomfortable about the number of workers that had been thrown out of job because of the fire outbreak.
He, however, appealed to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State to come to the aid of the company. He said that if the Governor could reconstruct an access road that leads to the company from the major highway, that it would ease up his burden “in this great loss.”