CBN reports fire outbreak at Jos branch

A branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Plateau State was involved in a fire incident on Tuesday, April 21, 2020.

The apex bank announced on its Twitter account that its branch in Jos, Plateau's capital city, witnessed a minor fire outbreak that was promptly contained.

"Minor fire outbreak at the Jos branch of Central bank of Nigeria, promptly contained today, April 21, 2020," the tweet read.

In a more detailed statement released later on Tuesday, CBN's Director of Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, said no significant damage was done by the fire.

He said, "At about 9:15 am today, Tuesday, the fire alarm in our Jos branch was triggered and in line with the bank's fire drill and protocols, the staff on skeletal essential duty were promptly evacuated from the building to the muster point.

"Our branch Controller quickly called the fire service at about 9:19 a.m. However, before the arrival of men of the fire service, the bank's security unit, relying on information from the fire alarm dashboard, traced the fire to an air conditioner installed in the inverter room on the second floor of the building.

"They swiftly put out the fire with extinguishers and hydrants installed in the building."

Okorafor said an investigation has commenced to determine the cause of the fire, but work has already resumed.

The incident continues a recent trend of worrying fire outbreaks at government facilities.

A building at the headquarters of the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja was similarly involved in a fire incident on Friday, April 17.

It was the third government building in Abuja to experience a fire outbreak in the past couple of weeks.

The office of the Accountant General went up in flames on April 8, followed by another fire incident at the headquarters of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), also in the Maitama area, on April 15.