Fire razes four containers, shops at Gezawa Market in Kano
- A fire broke out at Gezawa Market in Kano State around 5:15 am on Monday, 2 November.
- The Kano State Fire Service said four containers and seven temporary shops were destroyed; one outlet reported eight shops.
- The fire service has urged traders to take safety precautions as the harmattan season begins.
Traders at Gezawa Market in Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State are counting their losses after an early morning fire destroyed four containers and several shops, with property worth millions of naira lost.
The Kano State Fire Service said it received a distress call from a resident, Ibrahim Sani, at about 5:15 am on Monday, 2 November 2026, reporting the fire at the market.
Kabiru Jafaru, the service's public relations officer, said firefighters were sent to the scene immediately and put out the blaze before it could spread to other parts of the market.
According to the fire service statement, one shop, four containers and seven temporary shops were completely burnt.
How many shops were affected?
Reports differ slightly on the number of shops. Punch and The Guardian both put the figure at eight shops in their headlines, while the fire service statement quoted by all three outlets listed one shop and seven temporary shops, alongside the four containers. The Whistler reported four containers and seven temporary shops.
What is not in dispute is that the fire was stopped from reaching other sections of the market.
The Director of the Kano State Fire Service urged residents and traders to follow fire safety precautions, especially now that the harmattan season has set in, when dry conditions make fires spread faster.
Second market fire in days
The Gezawa incident comes days after a bigger fire at Kofar Ruwa Timber Market in Kano metropolis. That fire, in the early hours of Saturday, 31 October, destroyed 110 buildings and structures, according to the state fire service: 75 permanent buildings and 35 temporary structures across different sections of the market.
For ordinary Nigerians, market fires hit hard. Many traders keep their stock and daily earnings in these stalls, and a single fire can wipe out a family's income and push prices up for buyers who depend on the market.
What happens next is likely to centre on fire safety checks at markets across Kano, especially with the harmattan season running into early next year. Traders will also be watching to see whether support comes for those who lost goods at Gezawa and Kofar Ruwa.
