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.