The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, popularly known as “Treasury House” was on Wednesday ravaged by fire which affected the last three floors of the sprawling building.
Consequently, the Federal Fire Service FFS has announced a probe of the incident, a routine that is often conducted in the aftermath of fire incidents in the country.
Spokesperson of the FFS, Ugo Huan in a text message to our correspondent, said the investigation was to ascertain the cause of the inferno.
“Fire at the Accountant General’s Office Abuja has been extinguished and investigation will commence immediately to ascertain the cause”, she said.
While the cause of the fire was not immediately known as workers are currently at home observing the sit-at-home order of the federal government, it was gathered that a handful of the workers especially at the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System IPPIS who had to work on salaries of federal workers were mostly still going to the office.
It took a combined team of men of the Federal and FCT Fire Services to bring the fire under control.
Vanguard checks, however, revealed that there is an ongoing massive rehabilitation work at the premises, a development which has led to the tampering of electrical and other fittings in the complex.
“There is an ongoing work within the complex. The workers normally work day and night and there have been debates about the sources of funding for the rehabilitation.
“The workers on the site had earlier tampered with so many things especially electrical fittings and so without prejudice to what the Fire Service would come up with later, one can assume that the fire may have been caused by an electrical malfunction,” said a security source who was among the first responders when the incident occurred.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/fire-service-probes-inferno-at-treasury-house-in-abuja/