One person has been allegedly hospitalized following injuries sustained when an early morning fire gutted part of the office of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, situated at the Old GRA area of Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
The fire, which reportedly began at about 7a.m Thursday was said to have started from the fuel dome of the bank and quickly became ferocious drawing the attention of some workers and passers-by who immediately raised alarm.
The Next Edition gathered that staff of the bank and members of the community quickly rushed to the scene before the fire could spread to the main building.
When contacted, the Director of Benue State Fire Service, Engr. Donald Ikyaaza who confirmed the report said he received a call informing him about the fire and he immediately drafted his men to the scene.
“It was actually a huge fire which started at the company’s fuel dome but my men rushed to the scene and put out the fire before it could spread to other parts of the bank. Everywhere is calm now,” Ikyaaza said.
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Meanwhile, the founder and Chief Executive of 24Hours Traffic Road Accident Victims Support Initiative, TRAVSI, Mr. Gadafi Asemanya, told journalists that he rushed to the scene after he got a distress call from one of his volunteer scouts that the CBN office in Makurdi was on fire.
Asemanya who entered the building with fire fighters said the fire was huge and could have spread to the main building save for the combine help of the state fire service and the one stationed in Government House.
“I believe that one of the persons who is close to it, who is either the generator man, who was on duty last night has a fire burn and has been taken to an undisclosed hospital for now.
“So I want to use this opportunity to call on both the federal and state government to invest heavily on fire fighting equipment because without this urgent response from the state fire service, we don’t know what would have happened because the magnitude of the fire, whether we like it or not, is high. I must say that their response was good.”
Mr. Asemanya also advocated for establishment of fire service stations across the three senatorial zones and “most prominent presence in Makurdi especially around North Bank and Wurukum so that the distance of coming to extinguish fire will be less.”
He further said “It will be good if the Central Bank can acquire fire fighting equipment and also keep it for public use.”
