No official record destroyed by fire at AGF’s office, says Minister

The Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Clem Agba has revealed no record was destroyed by Wednesday’s fire outbreak at the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).

Fire had in the early hours of the day gutted the Treasury House, a building housing the AGF’s office located on Samuel Ladoke Akintola boulevard at Garki 2 area of the federal capital territory (FCT).

It took the response of officials of the Federal Fire Service and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to put out the fire whose cause still remains unknown.

The development, however, had generated fears in some quarters that the fire could have destroyed many vital documents, with some alleging it was staged.

Reacting to such insinuations while addressing journalists during an inspection of the affected offices in Abuja, the minister stated all official records remain intact.

He went on to explain that the fire outbreak was caused by a spark in one of the air conditioners (AC) on the fourth floor.

He said: “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.

“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.”

Similarly, the AGF, Ahmed Idris, explained nothing was destroyed by the fire, adding investigation would be conducted to ascertain the situation.

Idris 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.”