The storeroom in the House of Representatives section of the National Assembly Complex in Abuja has been gutted by fire.
Passers-by raised an alarm on Thursday, after smoke coming out from a store around 6pm was noticed on the second floor of the New Building, House of Representatives Wing of the Complex.
The wing has the offices of the lawmakers, committee rooms, banks and other private businesses. The office of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and principal officers are on the fourth floor.
Firemen from the Federal Fire Service, who have a permanent office on the premises, as well as other security officials rushed to the office, which was under lock and key.
The firemen and the security officials, including sergeants-at-arms, spent several minutes breaking into the smoke-filled room.
The inferno was put out with fire extinguishers placed in strategic locations in the building.
The Director of Information, National Assembly, Rawlings Agada, confirmed the fire in a statement issued on Thursday night, titled ‘Reported Fire Incident at the House of Representatives New Wing Today, Thursday, August 11, 2022, in the National Assembly Complex.’
It states in part, “There was a fire incident this evening in one of the janitors located on the 2nd Floor, Room 227 in the New Wing of the House of Representatives, suspected to have resulted from an electrical fault which was noticed by one of the staff members attached to the Clerk, House of Representatives, who promptly alerted the Federal Fire Service unit stationed in the National Assembly Complex.
“Accordingly, the fire have been put out with the assistance of staff members on duty who immediately broke into the affected office and effectively deployed stationed fire extinguishers on the floor before the arrival of the fire service officers.
“Consequently, the combined prompt efforts curtailed the fire to the affected office only, and power supply to the wing put off to enable a full assessment and investigations into the incident….The Management wishes to commend the prompt response/actions by the first responders particularly National Assembly staff (members) and the Fire Service unit in helping to curtain the fire outbreak.”
Agada also attached photos of the scene, which showed burnt documents, furniture and other items.
The federal parliament has recorded fire about five fire outbreaks of varying degrees since January 14, 2012.