Fire destroy ogun state governor's office

A section of the office of Governor Ibikunle
Amosun at
Okemosan, Abeokuta, the Ogun State
capital,
southwest Nigeria, was gutted by fire
Monday.
The fire destroyed computers and other
office
equipment.
But for the timely intervention of the men of
the Fire
Service, the incident would have caused a
major havoc.
The incident, which occurred at about 12
noon affected
the old Protocol Officers’ office on the first
floor of the
Governor’s Office.
It caused panic among workers who started
shouting
and running away from their offices.
Fire service officials, our correspondent
gathered,
arrived at about 12.35pm and entered the
Governor’s
Office through the backyard before gaining
access to
the scene of the fire and succeded in putting
it out.
Shortly after, the governor and other
members of his
cabinet went to the scene to assess the
extent of
damage.
Smoke was still billowing during the visit of
the
governor,which made most of them cover
their noses to
avoid inhaling the smoke.
Addressing newsmen at the scene of the
incident, the
Ogun State Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe
Adekunle
said the fire outbreak was caused by power
surge from
the independent power plant which supplies
electricity
to the Governor’s Office complex.
According to her, “it was a power surge from
the air
conditioner. It (power) came suddenly. There
were
some officers in that Office, so when they
saw it, they
tried all means to put out the fire. The only
things
affected there were just some set of
computers.
“The cause of the fire might be from the
Independent
Power Supply or Public Power Supply since
we do not
have generator there. But we thank God that
the
damage was very minimal.”
Meanwhile, a statement by the office of the
State
Ministry of Information and Strategy, which
was signed
by the Commissioner, Alhaji Yussuph
Olaniyonu,
thanked God that no life was lost.
He reirteratd government’s desire to ensure
that such
incident does not happen again and advised
the staff to
prevent such in future.
The statement reads in part,”….The
governor has
ordered the Head of Service to ensure strict
compliance
with the schedule of monthly fire drills in all
offices of
various Ministries, Departments and
Agencies in the
state.
“The exercise,according to the governor, will
enable all
workers to familiarise themselves with the
use of the
fire extinguishers which the government had
purchased. It will also enable the workers
know how to
take appropriate preventive measures when
faced with
emergency situations.
“The governor noted that the fact that God
has been
kind to the state as it rarely experiences fire
incidents,
demanded that people should be vigilant and
constantly get ready to act positively in case
of
emergency.”