TheCable

Fire gutted the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Company (NDIC) building, Mamman Kontagora House, situated at 23 Marina, Lagos, on Wednesday.

Femi Giwa, head of operations, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), told TheCable that the fire affected the third to the seventh floors of the building.

“Precisely around 9:15am this morning, we got a distress call, which was registered at our command centre through the 767-112 emergency toll-free line that there was a fire outbreak at Mamman Kotangora house, which of course is a commercial building housing the federal mortgage bank, Diamond bank, NDIC (Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation) and a couple of other companies,” he said.

“We swung into action; we got to third floor where the inferno actually started. The third floor is where we have the generator house. The fire started from the generator house and then it spread to the area where you have the reservoir tank where you have AGO, that is the diesel.

“The diesel is being stored in the generator house and other drums; this actually resulted to a kind of explosion and then the fire became very intense, spreading through cables and other combustible materials. It got to the fourth floor; we kept on trying to ensure as much as possible to curtail the spread.

“Our men are inside, while we have combated with our sky lift which of course could only move as far as first four five floors.”

Razaq Fadipe, director of the Lagos state fire service, said fire incidents were becoming recurrent in the state, as about 667 of had been recorded in less than six months.

Director of the state fire service, Razaq Fadipe addressing press men

The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FBMN), located on the fifth floor, Presign Systems, Alangrange Securities Limited and F.O. Fagbohungbe &Co., a law firm, were also affected by the inferno.

NDIC, which is on the 8th floor, had no loss, as the fire was said to have been halted on the seventh floor.

Habi Bichi, NDIC’s head of communication and public affairs, confirmed that the outbreak did not have major on the organisation.

“The incident occurred this morning but luckily, no life was lost and valuable documents and materials were not destroyed,” he said in a statement.

“The NDIC has temporarily relocated from Mamman Kontagura house to NECOM House at 15 Marina, Lagos.”

The statement added that NDIC would return to Mamman Kontagura house on April 20.

Umaru Ibrahim, director/chief executive officer of NDIC and Gimbayau Kumo, managing director FMBN, were among the first set of dignitaries to visit the scene.