Staff of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) escaped death by the whiskers as fire gutted the old Headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja.
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Two members of staff were trapped on the Second floor of the building as the fire destroyed equipment worth millions of naira at the old head office of the anti-graft commission in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja on Monday.
According to the Punch Newspaper, the fire started from the ICT department which formerly served as the newsroom.
Confirming the incident, spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade said the damage would have been worse if the Federal Fire Service had not arrived at the scene on time.
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.
A statement by the Sector commander of the Federal Fire service said;
“The fire started at the former newsroom, which now serves as storage for ICT equipment that was 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, the sector commander 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.”
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The fire service also revealed that it rescued two officers attached to the Combined Inter-Agency Task Force who were trapped on the second floor of the building before the fire was eventually subdued.