• Officials contain incident, say no cause for alarm
There was pandemonium yesterday at the Federal Ministry of Finance building in Abuja, following an explosion from inverter batteries.
  
Sources said the incident occurred at about 6:50a.m., when the security men noticed smoke emanating from  the room housing the batteries of the ministry.
 
Confirming the development, spokesperson for the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Mr. Paul Abraham said the huge smoke emanating from the Federal Ministry of Finance located in the Central Business District, Abuja, was caused by a spark on inverter batteries.  

“To firefighters, there could be a smoke without fire but to civilians, every smoke is caused by fire,” Abraham said.
 
He said that when the service received a report of the fire outbreak, it deployed a team to the ministry to put the fire under control.
 
“We got the call at about 7:00a.m. and immediately sent our men from three stations; Garki, Federal Secretariat and Wuse.

“The situation is totally under control and did not disturb the business of the day,’’ he said.
 
Also, spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Olajide Oshundun,  confirmed that it was only the battery room in the ministry that was affected.
  
Putting the story in perspective, said: “At about 6:50 yesterday, the security men noticed smoke, which emanated from room that houses the batteries for the inverter in the ministry.
 
“They raised the necessary alarm and deployed the fire fighting equipment and within 15 to 20 minutes, the fire was contained before the arrival of the fire officers.”
  
According to him, when the battery exploded, about 16 other batteries were affected, thereby creating dense smoke as the fire began to break.
  
He, however,  said the fire was contained within the very room it started and did not spread even outside the room, contrary to reports in the social media.

“Only the battery room compartment at the basement of the ministry was affected, the fire did not affect any other part of the ministry.
 
“Necessary alarm was raised and the fire was put under control in about 20 minutes later,’’ Oshundu said.
 
Similarly, the Special Adviser, Media and Communication to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, confirmed that the fire caused by battery explosion, affected only the basement area and not any office within the ministry.

He said: “Headquarters is not on fire as reported in the social media. Rather, there was an incident on the corridor in the basement involving an isolated battery park and was quickly put out by security personnel on duty.
    
“The fire started at about 7:00a.m. when smoke was noticed in the basement, which caused panic around the building.
    
“However, when the Fire Service team arrived at about 8:30a.m., the team was turned back by the in-house security personnel, who said the damage was minimal and needed no intervention from FFS.
   
“Normalcy has since returned, while staff and visitors are carrying out their businesses.”