At
least two persons escaped death while equipment worth millions of naira was
damaged after a fire incident at the old head office of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja on Monday.
Although
the cause of the fire could not be ascertained as of press time, it was learnt
that the fire started from the ICT department which formerly served as the
newsroom.
The
EFCC said in a statement by its acting spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, that the
damage would have been worse if not for the timely arrival of men of the
Federal Fire Service.
The
firefighters led by the Sector Commander, Melone Onyekachi, arrived at the
scene when the service was alerted to the fire by the Incident Duty
Officer of the commission, Kayode Oyetunde, at 7pm .
The
statement read in part, “The fire started at the former newsroom, which now
serves as storage for ICT equipment that were retrieved from the commission’s
former offices scattered across Abuja.
“The
former newsroom is in the Costa Hall, which was inaugurated by Dr.
Antonio Costa in 2007. The building currently houses the Data Centre and the
Combined Inter Agency Task Force.”
When
asked what could have caused the fire, Onyekachi said, “Our duty is to
put out fire; that we have successfully done. There is another department
that will come and ascertain the cause of the fire.”
According
to the statement, two officers attached to the Combined Inter-Agency Task Force
who were trapped on the second floor of the building were rescued before
the fire was eventually subdued. The extent of the damage would be ascertained
after stock-taking.
The
Commission’s Chief Security Officer, Nasir Abdullahi, immediately after the
fire was stopped, went to the Maitama Police Station to report.
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