Some officials escaped death while equipment worth millions of naira was damaged after a fire broke out at the old head office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja on Monday.
While 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, Punch writes.
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.”
On the cause of 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.”
The statement added that 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 put out.
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