In the last two weeks, Buildings housing three different Nigerian government agencies have been gutted by fire.
POLITICS NIGERIA reported how fire razed the office of the Accountant General of the federation, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Headquarters and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Headquarters.
It should be noted that these three offices belong to vital sectors who are major players in the political and economic affairs of the country. Some of the offices, however, claimed that no document was lost to the fire accidents because of their digital systems, which provides for virtual storage.
Meanwhile, in this article, this paper reviews how the unfortunate incidents happened and the reactions of the agencies.
Accountant-General’s Office
On April 8, the Capital Unit of the Treasury House where the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is located gutted fire. The six-storey building was affected by fire in the early hours of Wednesday and this was confirmed by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba.
He also assured that a probe will be launched to determine the cause of the fire outbreak. Mr Agba was accompanied to the office by the Accountant General of the Federation himself, Ahmed Idris. He, however, said no file was missing as the public financial management system had been digitalised and financial information could be assessed from anywhere.
In all, he said the fire incident would not affect the disbursement of the coronavirus pandemic intervention fund.
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)
On April 15, the Headquarters of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja, was gutted by fire at Maitama. The fire occurred as a result of a power surge of the outer units of the split Air Conditioners on the 6th floor in the seven-storey building.
Confirming the incident, the Registrar General of CAC, Abubakar Garba, said no document was lost and no casualties. He disclosed that they immediately mobilized fire service to quench the fire using fire extinguishers and fire hose reels within the building.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
On Friday, the headquarters of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was also gutted by fire which affected lots of documents.
Oluwole Uzzi, a spokesperson for the electoral office, said it was restricted to the office of the director of elections and party monitoring.
“Some photocopies of documents and computers were destroyed,” the official said.
