The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday at the  132kv transmission line and underground cable transmitting bulk power to the 132kv Central Area transmission substation, Katampe, in the Central Area of Abuja.

Areas affected are Maitama, Wuse, Jabi, Life Camp, Asokoro, Utako, Mabushi and part of Presidential Villa.

Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, engineers have however been mobilized to the site to repair the vandalized cable.

While lamenting the incessant act of vandalism of power cables across the country, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, dispatched a team of engineers to the site to ensure quick restoration of power in the affected areas.

In a statement, Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s GM, Public Affairs, appealed to affected residents to bear with the transmission agency, saying efforts were in top gear to ensure repairs of the vandalized cables.

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The statement also revealed further that the incident affected 8 No distribution feeders feeding the Central Area and over 60 per cent of power supply to Abuja is involved.

“The vandalism of this critical transmission infrastructure is suspected to have been carried out by unknown persons around Menillum park axis of Abuja.

“The vandals carted away 40 metres of 1x500mm xlpe conductor on the 2No of 132kv transmission line. The incident has affected the power supply to Maitama, Wuse, Jabi, Lifecamp, Asokoro, Utako, Mabushi and part of Presidential Villa. TCN engineers have been mobilized to the site to repair the vandalized cable.

“TCN enjoins all Nigerians to be vigilant to protect our transmission equipment.”

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FEMA’s Head of Public Affairs, Mrs Nkechi Isa, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.

Isa, who said that no life was lost, added that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

She, however, said the fire was brought under control by a combined team of the Federal Fire Service, FCT Fire Service, and Julius Berger Fire Department.

The FEMA spokesperson said the agency received a distress call on the 112 emergency toll-free number at 4.05 pm about the fire incident at the market.

She added that the agency, being the lead coordinating body for all emergencies in the FCT, thereafter, activated its stakeholders to ensure maximum response.

Isa identified the stakeholders as the FCT Fire Service, Federal Fire Service, National Emergency Management Agency, FCT Police Command, and Julius Berger Fire Service.

The acting Director General of FEMA, Mr Mohammed Sabo, appealed to FCT residents to equip their homes and business places with basic firefighting equipment like extinguishers and fire blankets.

Sabo noted that the 10 shops affected by the fire incident did not have a fire extinguisher.

He also noted that access to the place was unhampered allowing the fire trucks to effectively fight the fire.

He advised market management to put a fire tinder in place to prevent loss of properties during fire outbreaks.

Sabo also urged FCT residents to avoid storing petroleum products and other combustible items in their homes.

He called on residents to always use the 112-emergency toll-free number in the event of an emergency.

Earlier, Mr Innocent Amaechina, spokesman of the Abuja Market Management Ltd., AMML, who confirmed the outbreak of the fire said that only a portion of the market was affected.

Amaechina refuted the erroneous report in social media that the whole market was engulfed in fire.

The official, who also could not confirm the cause of the fire, said that the incident reportedly began between 2 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

He said that some shops, including the office of the AMML in the market, were burnt down by the fire.

He added that some vehicles parked at the northern parking lots in the market were equally burnt.

“I have not been able to have access to the market to assess the extent of the damage, but the police and fire service officials have arrived at the scene and taken control of the situation,” he said.

Source: NAN

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The Director-General of FEMA, Dr Abbas Idriss, confirmed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Idriss said: “Around between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., we received a distress call that there was a building collapse beside the United Bank for Africa Bank, UBA, at Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse II.

“We quickly activated our rescue team to go there and on getting there they saw it was a wall that fell on artisans working around the area. So far six people were removed from the rubbles and two have died while four are in the hospital at the moment.

“It is a building under construction and they have eaten into the building next to them because it is not their building that fell it is the neighbour’s building that felt on them.”

The director-general said that the agency had been sensitising FCT residents on the need to abide by building approvals and the Abuja Master Plan.

He called on stakeholders saddled with the responsibility of granting building approvals in the FCT, like the Department of Development Control, Department of Engineering Services and other agencies, to ensure that they give proper approval and monitored constructions in all locations.

“That is the only way to guard against the situation because the approval is supposed to be in phases; as you give approval in phase one, when they do according to specification, you now give them approval for the second phase. That is how it should be.

“But if you give a blanket approval to just go and start the building they can build with whatever material they can. However, in this case like I said earlier, we are not talking about usage of inferior materials.

“It is because they extended their building and ate  into the neighbourhood structure, which eventually collapsed on the artisans,” said the FEMA chief executive.

Source: NAN

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