(UPDATE): Cause of fire at Ministry of Finance headquarters

Fire in the early hours of Wednesday engulfed the inverter room of the Federal Ministry of Finance Headquarters located on Ahmadu Bello way in the Central Business District of Abuja.

The fire outbreak was caused by an explosion from one of the batteries, lasted for 20 minutes.

Conducting journalists round the premises of the ministry, the spokesperson of the Ministry, Olajide Oshundun said the fire started as a smoke which was noticed by staff of the ministry.

He explained that the fire was quickly put off even before the arrival of the Federal Fire Service.

Oshundun said, ” At about 6:50 am, some staff of the Ministry noticed smoke emanating from the room that housed the battery for the inverter.

“Necessary alarm was raised and the internally provided fire fighting equipment were deployed and within about 15-20 minutes the fire was put under control.

“The Information was also sent to the Federal Fire Service system before they came everything has been brought under control. The fire emanated from an exploded battery which then affected other batteries about 16 batteries were affected. It only affected the battery compartment at the base of the Ministry, it did not affect other parts of the building.” He stated.