The National Board for Small Scales Industries (NBSSI) has expressed government’s intent to support traders and victims of the Odawna fire outbreak whose shops were razed down last week.
Assessment process is being undertaken by the Board to ascertain the scope of damage and consequent aid which will be given them.
According to the Executive Director, Kosi Yankey Ayeh, government is poised to revive all businesses that were affected as a result of the damages incurred.
“We are going to support them [traders] in all forms, depending on what the assessment comes out with, but we need to have credible data to rely on in order to serve everyone”.
Mrs. Kosi Yankey-Ayeh also disclosed that, considering progress undertaken, the NBSSI would be able to give financial support to the affected persons before the end of the year.
Currently, the registration process which began over the weekend has captured about 2,000 victims already, who will begin the process to access support from the government as announced by President Akufo Addo.
Registration for the traders whose shops were razed by fire is expected to end Friday November 27, exclusive of any challenge.
After the registration, the NBSSI team will do an assessment on the applications to evaluate their businesses and come out with the support to be provided.
President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on November 18, 2020, directed 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.
Via a social media post made on his Facebook handle, President Akufo-Addo said, this is to help the affected traders recover from their losses as a result of the
Government, according to the president, will undertake re-wiring of all markets in the Greater Accra Region to forestall future occurrences.
“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.”
The National Insurance Commission has also taken steps to reduce occurrence of fire outbreaks at commercial centres to the barest minimum, the Commission remarked.
The Head of Supervision at the National Insurance Commission, Seth Eshun speaking in an interview noted that, his outfit has engaged local authorities across the country to facilitate them to determine which commercial centres are fit for operation.
“We are in discussions with the local authorities and one of the purposes that we want to achieve with these discussions is to get to a stage where before they give any license for any commercial business, they will check if that building or if that space has insurance.
“And we believe that if we do this, and we do it especially for our markets it will be a solution. So these are very early discussions and its one of the key things that we seek to do to help protect markets”.
