Fire guts Mamman Kontagora House in Lagos

There was pandemonium on
Wednesday as the Mamman
Kontagora House, owned by the
Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria,
on the Lagos Island was gutted by
fire.
Our correspondent noted that a law
firm and the Nigeria Deposit
Insurance Corporation offices were
also affected.
The complex has two sides, each of
which has 11 floors. The structure
facing Broad Street was not
affected. The affected section is the
one facing Marina.
It was learnt that the inferno, which
started around 9am, was caused by
a surge from a generator on the
third floor.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the
surge was fuelled by the diesel
kept beside the generator, which
aided the fire that spread to upper
floors.
As of 12.30pm when PUNCH Metro
arrived at the scene, the fire had
extended to the seventh floor.
Firefighters were seen making
frantic efforts to put out the
inferno, while policemen and
officials of the Nigeria Security and
Civil Defence Corps tried to secure
the area.
An employee of the FMBN, who
spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said the load on the
generator was more than its
capacity. He also blamed the
management for mounting the
generator inside the complex.
He said, “You don’t need to be told
that the generator was overloaded
once you hear its sound. The oil
section was also leaking, which
showed it was due for servicing.
Besides, locating a generator inside
a complex like this is not safe.”
Another worker of the bank, who
identified himself simply as
Muyiwa, said no casualty was
recorded so far.
A worker of NDIC, who declined to
give his name, said the effects of
the fire would have been minimal if
the fire extinguishers in the
complex were in good shape.
“All the fire extinguishers had
expired. Almost all our documents
were burnt and several other items
were destroyed. I can’t actually
estimate the loss but it was much,”
he said.
The Head of Operation, Lagos State
Emergency Agency, Femi Giwa, said
the inferno was aided by
inflammable substances.
He said, “We have carried out
hazard analysis and risk assessment
and we found out that the inferno
actually started from the third floor.
“There is a small generator house
and a surface tank used to store
diesel. So, immediately the fire
started, the fuel aided it.
“The inferno spread from there to
the seventh floor. For now, we have
been able to curtail the spread of
the fire.”
The Managing Director, FMBN,
Gimba Ya’u Kumo, said the extent
of the damage would be
communicated to the press after
the outcome of the risk
assessment. He also said the
inferno was caused by the faulty
generator.
“We don’t have any report to give
presently, but the preliminary
information we gathered tells us
that the fire outbreak is from the
generator room. We have spoken
with the facility manager and we
have been informed that they tried
to service the generator yesterday.
We leave this to the state fire
service and the experts coming to
do the risk assessment. Everything
is going to be done professionally
and you will be informed of the
development. No major document
from our side is lost.”
The Director, Lagos State Fire
Service, Rasaq Fadipe, said his men
responded immediately they
received the distress call.
“The distress call came in at 9.13am
and I quickly dispatched the fire
trucks from Onikan with N10,000
litres of water each. The fire trucks
were further complemented by
other trucks from the state fire
service and the Lagos State
Emergency Management Agency.”
A statement from the NDIC’s
spokesman, H. S. Birchi, said, “The
Managing Director of the NDIC,
Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, has visited
the building.
“It has become necessary to
temporarily relocate all the NDIC
staff from the Mamman Kontagora
House to NECOM House to ensure
continuity of service and to enable
experts to assess the extent of
damage.
It is hoped that normal activities
will resume at the Mamman
Kontagora House on Monday.

oh ok.