The company destroyed by fire.
Man who lost N1.7b investment begs govt for help
By Nweze Anaga,
Abakaliki
Watching a N1.7 billion investment destroyed by fire in a twinkle of an eye was a bitter experience a middle-aged Alinchi Emmanuel Ebere wouldn’t wish his enermy talk less of himself.
The Ebonyi State-born investor watched with disbelief while the investment that took him seven years to nurture and build went down the drain in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The incident, which also rendered no fewer than 50 workers unemployed, occurred in the early hours of July 14, 2024.
Our correspondent, who visited the company that used to produce animal feeds and soap on July 15, 2024, lamented the level of destruction.
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The investor, Alinchi Emmanuel Ebere, while lamenting his plight, said that the fire started around 1:17am, stressing that it was caused by electric power surge that went out of control.
He explained that they did everything to control it, including the intervention of the Fire Service men but all to no avail as the fire razed down the entire factory immediately.
Emmanuel also called on the government and good spirited individuals to come to his aid by providing grant or loan to revive the company.
He narrated his ordeal: “All my workers were in operation on July 14, 2024; around 1:17am, I was in front of the gate monitoring what my workers were doing. We produce animal feeds like chicken feed, liquid soap, bar-soap, detergents.
“The fire incident started when EEDC took light and brought it back immediately. And as a result of this, there was power surge; it ignited the solar wire which made it to excalate to the entire company building.
“Men of Fire Service came with their vehicles and did their best, but could not control it as the fire razed down the building with all our machines, and and other equipment.
“We just offloaded our raw materials from a trailer and were planning to move our products out to customers before the fire destroyed everything.
“We produce for individual farms and corporate farms. All the oil that filled our storage tank both inside and outside were all burnt. All the soap and animal feeds were not spared.
“Some of the equipment destroyed by the fire include: oil extracting machine, foreign machine, filter pressed, processed oil, feed mills, mixer machine, cutting machine, many generating sets, electric motors, among others destroyed by fire.
“The extime of the raw materials and machines destroyed are up to N1.7 billion. I started this factory over seven years ago; there were machines that hadn’t been installed before the incident.
“I want government to assist me and give me a vast land that will contain the factory. And also assist me financially even if it is loan. I have over 50 direct workers and other household workers.”
Two of the workers, Mrs. Joy Omeze and Mr. Aja Iruka, confirmed the incident.
They said that they were speachless and confused over the fire that rendered them jobless.
Omeze said, “What happened here is beyond our control and it affected everybody including those in the village.
“It pains me alot because our manager is a nice man. He doesn’t segregate, he carries everybody along and takes good care of us. Honestly, I am speechless and don’t know where and how to start again.”
