The Minister of State for Education, Viola Onwuliri, has said no sensitive document was burnt and offices in the building were not affected by Thursday’s fire incident at the Federal Secretariat.
She explained that the fire only affected the electrical cable channels.
“The offices and documents are intact,” Mrs. Onwuliri said. “The fire service chief has assured that everybody is safe.”
The fire started at about 1.40pm and affected the 3rd to 6th floor of phase three of the secretariat. The building housed the Federal Ministry of Education.
At the time of the incident, the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, was having an interactive section with lrincipals of unity schools from across the country.
The meeting was stopped as the minister and other officials were evacuated from the building.
Cause of fire unknown
Five hours after the fire was put out, the Operational Commander for the Federal Fire service, Ime Eyo, told PREMIUM TIMES that investigations are still on going as to what led to the fire.
“By tomorrow, I will be able to tell you what caused the fire outburst,” Mr. Eyo said. “As at now investigations are still on-going.”
The fire service arrived the scene shortly after the fire started.
A cleaner who witnessed the explosion, said he was trying to relax when he heard a loud bang.
“I heard a loud sound and the light went off,” he said. “Just before I could check what went wrong, the whole place went dark. I was gasping for breath. I tried to put on my torch to see but it was so dark.”
He explained he had to use his discretion to find his way through the smoke and out of the building.
Mrs, Onwuliri asked the staff of the ministry not to panic. She said there was an assurance everything would be fine.
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