A fire outbreak has gutted part of a building at the Federal Ministry of Finance located in the Central Business District, Abuja.
Black smoke was seen billowing from a part of the building, following the fire outbreak on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.
Olajide Oshundun, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, told Channels Television that the fire started early morning around 6:50am. He added that some staff of the Ministry noticed smoke emanating from the room that houses the battery for an inverter.
Oshundun said the fire was put out with fire fighting equipment at the Ministry within twenty minutes and that the effect of the fire incident is minor as it only affected the basement of the Ministry.
Also, the Federal Ministry of Finance in a tweet explained the cause of the fire outbreak.
According to them, the incident occurred on the corridor in the basement involving an isolated battery pack and it has been put out by the security personnel on duty.
NewsFlash: The Federal Ministry of Finance HQ is not on fire as reported on social media. Rather, there was an incident on the corridor in the basement involving an isolated battery Pack (photo inset). It was quickly put out by the security personnel on duty. #FinMinNigeria pic.twitter.com/aNDzwF7kOc
— Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (@FinMinNigeria) February 23, 2022
The fire outbreak is just the latest of many that have affected government offices in Abuja.
In May 2020, a part of the Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST, building in Abuja was gutted by fire.
A month before that incident, a building housing the office of the accountant-general of the federation, AGF, was gutted by fire.
