How AC Caused Treasury House Fire Outbreak
An explanation on the Wednesday morning fire outbreak that affected the fourth floor of Treasury House, the headquarters of Office of Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), where documents on capital projects and capital releases to ministries, departments and parastatals are kept and processed, has emerged.
Although details on how the fire was ignited were still sketchy, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, who briefed journalists said it started when a staff switched on an air-conditioner (AC) which sparked.
He, however, said a full-scale investigation involving forensic experts may be eventually instituted to ascertain the real cause of the inferno.
Explaining, he said, “An officer came to the office. He put on the air conditioner and there was a spark. He noticed smoke and he immediately put it off, but it was still smouldering and he had to rush out to get some help.
“The only thing that has happened to the data centre is the exterior where we have the cooling units at the back. The data centre always has to be cool.
“One of the things we’ve done is to shut down the data centre since the cooling units are not functioning optimally.
“We’ve directed that those cooling units should be immediately put in order so that we do not lose anything in that data centre.”
In his remarks, the AGF, Mr Idris Ahmed there was no need to link the fire incident to sabotage and urged the public to wait for the outcome of the investigation.
“I can’t point to sabotage. We should allow the investigation to be carried out. I myself can be a suspect.”
On why such a sensitive office had no fire tenders, Ahmed said fire truck acquisition and the establishment of a sub-station were part of the reforms for the office of the AGF.
“We know the initial arrangement did not make adequate provision for fighting fire. We’re putting up a sub-station for firefighting and acquiring some more gadgets. Some are in the store; just that they’ve not been commissioned. It’s unfortunate that fire happened.
