Lagos – Nigeria’s federal government has announced plans to institute a probe into the fire that gutted a section of the building housing the country’s Ministry of Defence in the capital city of Abuja at the weekend, the Ministry said in a statement.
It said an investigation committee would soon be constituted to ascertain the cause of the fire which, according to local newspapers, destroyed a power generator and some computers, among others.
“The fire broke out in a store room behind the main building of the Ministry of Defence at about 3 p.m (local time) on Saturday,” the statement said, noting it took the combined effort of fire fighters from the Federal Capital Territory, Federal Fire Service, Julius Berger Fire Service and the military fire services to put off the fire.
“Although the immediate cause of the fire has not been ascertained, it was observed that a bush fire at the back of the perimeter fence of the Defence building must have spilled over to the store which is very close to the fence,” the statement added.
A source close to the Ministry told PANA Monday, however, that the fire was probably not as a result of any sinister motive.
”Going by past experiences, those hunting bush rats at this time of the year may have started the fire, which then extended to a section of the building,” the source said on the condition of anonymity.
