Fire Renders 72-Year-Old UNICAL Retiree, 14 Households Homeless In Calabar
Tragedy struck on Tuesday night at Ekondo Street in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State, as a devastating fire outbreak rendered a 72-year-old retiree of the University of Calabar, Mrs. Anthonia Iso Archibong, and 14 other households homeless.
Property worth about N200 million was destroyed in the inferno that has left over 20 persons stranded. The victims are currently taking refuge at the residence of the female traditional ruler of Akai Efa community, HH Henrietta Effa-Akpera.
Narrating her ordeal, Mrs. Archibong, who retired in 2019 as Assistant Chief Accountant in the Bursary Department of UNICAL, said she collapsed due to fright and heavy smoke.
“I felt so uncomfortable during the fire outbreak, I fell and hit my head on the ground due to the fright. This is the second time I am running away from the house without anything, just like we ran away with my late father during the 1966 civil war when he was a health officer in Yola,” she recounted.
The septuagenarian, who said she has exhausted her gratuity and now survives on pension, appealed for urgent help from government.
“I have finished eating my gratuity. I have been living on my small pension. Government should come and help the fifteen families. I am calling on SEMA and the Calabar South Council Chairman, Hon. Patrick Archibong, to come to our aid,” she cried.
Another victim, 39-year-old Anso Anso, a trained accountant, said he lost all his academic certificates to the fire.
“According to what my son told me, the fire started in my bedroom. My child ran out and called his mother, shouting fire, fire. Some people say light was sparking. I heard somebody plugged iron and left it. My books, my certificates, my BSc degree certificate in Accounting from the University of Calabar, everything is gone. We had about five boxes of clothes which I stocked to complete my marital rites, fridge, utensils, everything is now in ruins,” he lamented.
Anso added that operatives of the State Fire Service arrived late with an ill-equipped truck and had to join community youths to battle the flames.
The victims have appealed to the Cross River State Government, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and well-meaning individuals to come to their aid.
