Fire at the Accountant-General's office gutted the payment processing department

The fire at the office of the Accountant General of the Federation earlier today April 8, gutted two key departments including the one that processes consolidated revenue sharing amongst the three tiers of government.

The fire at the Treasury House located in southeast of Abuja city centre was successfully contained within an hour, as fire fighters and other first responders including the police and emergency management officers, raced to the scene shortly after the outbreak.

Premium Times reported that two senior officials briefed on the fire incident said two key offices were razed by the inferno before it was put out. The fourth and fifth floors were also affected.

An official said;

“The fire started at the fourth department where federal, state and local government allocations and other crucial payments are processed and then found its way up to the fifth floor where the accountant-general has his office.

“We had to suspend a meeting we had scheduled for 11:a.m. via video conferencing.”

Another official said the fire did affect their data centre. He said;

“The fire did not affect our data centre, which is actually fully backed up. We have been using computer to process and back up information for the past 11 years.”

Public Relations Officer of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Sandra Ugo told journalists that personnel of the FFS arrived on time and were able to put out the fire before much damage was done to the building.