Equipments worth millions of naira and valuable documents, data were destroyed after a fire incident at the old head office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the Wuse II area of Abuja on Monday, IGBERE TV News reports.
Although the cause of the fire could not be ascertained as of press time, IGBERE TV News however gathered that the inferno started from the ICT department which formerly served as the newsroom for the commission.
This is coming barely three days after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu to ensure that monies recovered from looters do not find their way back to the looters.
- Ibrahim Magu
The President said this when he received members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by its President, Samson Ayokunle, at the State house in Abuja.
He said that he has ordered that every recovered money should be kept in a dedicated account.
“It is on record that some cases initiated by the anti-graft bodies since 2003 are yet to be concluded. We will, however, not be discouraged. Where monies have been recovered, such monies will not find their way back to the looters as I have directed EFCC to account for every money it has recovered and put them in a dedicated account.” President Buhari said.
The EFCC said in a statement by its acting spokesman, Mr. Tony Orilade, that the damage would have been worse if not for the timely arrival of men of the Federal Fire Service.
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.
The statement read in part, “The fire started at the former newsroom, which now serves as storage for ICT equipment that were 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.”
When asked what could have caused the fire, Onyekachi 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.”
According to the statement, two officers attached to the Combined Inter-Agency Task Force who were trapped on the second floor of the building were rescued before the fire was eventually subdued. The extent of the damage would be ascertained after stock-taking.
The Commission’s Chief Security Officer, Nasir Abdullahi, immediately after the fire was stopped, went to the Maitama Police Station to report.
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