A raging inferno has consumed a section of the main market in Markurdi, Benue State, officials said Tuesday night.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but first responders were said to have been mobilised to the scene.
Terver Akase, a Benue government spokesperson, said the fire only touched a section of the market along George Akume Road at about 6:30 p.m.
It was not immediately clear whether the blaze had been put out by firefighters.
The market, containing a row of lock-up shops, was built by former Governor Gabriel Suswam to unclog the Makurdi city centre and easy trading.
It served as a temporary shelter for victims of the devastating flood in 2017 and residents who fled their villages at the height of violence by herdsmen between late 2017 and early 2018.
