Minister reveals cause of fire at Accountant General’s office, says financial records are safe
Contrary to presumption among many Nigerians that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation was deliberately set on fire to cover shady deals and corrupt practices by government officials, the Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Clem Agba, has said no financial record was destroyed in the fire.
A part of the Treasury House, the building housing the AGF’s Office in Abuja was gutted by fire on Wednesday.
Agba while speaking with journalists after inspecting the affected offices said the fire was caused by a spark in one of the air conditioners (AC) on the fourth floor.
The minister said they are yet to ascertain what was destroyed in the office but all the government’s financial transactions were intact.
“We have gone round the rooms and offices where the fire affected, and I am glad to report that our data Centre where all our records are kept are fully intact,” he said.
Agba added: “There is no destruction, so we haven’t lost any record. As a government I want to assure you that our records are intact, a few documents are burnt, we haven’t started recovery to check what actually burnt, but all our financial transactions are intact.
“We would be doing a full scale investigation using the right professionals to determine exactly what happened.”
The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, also corroborated the minister’s claim and said there would be a thorough investigation of the incident.
He said: “For emphasis, our data Centre is intact, no harm in any way except for the cooling system which we are now working hard to put back to operation. We are also glad there is no casualty.”
