The Office of the Permanent Secretary in the Niger State Government House was gutted by fire which resulted from an electrical fault.
The office was under renovation when the fire outbreak started at 12:30 p.m. and it took more than 15 minutes before men from the state Fire Service arrived to put the situation under control.
According to reports, workers in the government house were seen running for their lives before personnel from the state fire service arrived with three fire fighting trucks. Office equipment, valuables, and sensitive documents were destroyed in the fire incident.
Malam Salihu Bello, the Deputy Controller in the Niger State Fire Service, who spoke to newsmen at the scene of the fire, said that the quick intervention of the firefighters helped in reducing the damages.
He said that lack of fire fighting truck in the government house was not intentional as arrangement were on to station a fire fighting truck in there, “We have our personal stationed here to respond to any emergency,” he said.
Bello said that the fire fighting trucks used to put out the fire were brought from the various fire service stations in Minna. However, Mrs. Mary Berje, the Chief Press Secretary to the Niger Governor, while reacting to the incident in a statement, said that the fire fighting trucks in government house were taken out for routine maintenance.
