Fire , last night, gutted a storeroom in the House of Representatives section of the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
The fire started at about 6pm on Thursday, on the second floor of the new building , the House of Reps Wing of the complex.
The wing houses the offices of the lawmakers, committee rooms, banks and other private businesses.
Shortly after the fire started, an alarm was raised and firefighters from the Federal Fire Service, who have a permanent office on the premises, as well as security officials rushed to the office, which was under lock and key.
In an attempt to put out the fire, doors were damaged to enable them gain entry into the smoke-filled store room. Finally the fire was put out using fire extinguishers.
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.’
The statement read, “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.
“It is expected that after due assessment by the Fire Service and the Estate and Works Directorate, normalcy in the New Wing housing all principal officers of the House of Representatives and honourable members’ offices will be restored immediately.
“(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.”