A fire incident occurred at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s office, which destroyed part of the building in Jos, Plateau State.
The incident occurred on Tuesday morning and the fire was said to have gutted part of the building.
In a statement signed by the bank’s Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, the source of the fire was traced to an air conditioner installed in the inverter room in the building.
He said the affected area has been sealed off for investigation, adding that no record of the bank was destroyed by the fire.
He said, “At about 9.15 a.m., today, Tuesday, April 21, 2020, the fire alarm in our Jos Branch was triggered and in line with the Bank’s fire drill and protocol, the skeletal staff on essential duty were promptly evacuated from the building to the muster point.
“Our Branch Controller quickly called the Fire Service at about 9.19 a.m. However, before the arrival of men of the fire service, the Bank’s security unit, relying on information from the Fire Alarm Dashboard, traced the fire to an air conditioner installed in the inverter room on the second floor of the building. They swiftly put out the fire with extinguishers and hydrants installed in the building.
“The affected room has since been cordoned off for further investigation, while normal work has resumed at the branch.
“We hereby assure the general public that the minor fire has been effectively put out and no damage was done to any records of the Bank.”
However, this adds to the series of fire outbreaks that have hit key government offices in the country in recent days.
Earlier this month, fire broke out at the Treasury House, a building housing the Accountant General of the Federation’s office, exactly a week after there was another fire outbreak at the headquarters of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) while the Independent National Electoral Commission’s office in Abuja was also gutted by fire a few days after.