Chinedu Eze
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has set up investigation panel to find out the remote and immediate causes of the fire that engulfed the headquarters of the agency on Tuesday.
According to eyewitness account, the fire, which affected the audit and commercial sections of the headquarters started at about 9a.m. but was later put out by the Lagos State fire service and that of FAAN,
The witness said the inferno destroyed many things in the affected area of the building.
The Managing Director of the agency, Saleh Dunoma, said in addition to the investigation panel, the Nigerian Police would carry out their own investigation and would interview officials of the agency.
According to him, members of the investigative panel include the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Department of State Service (DSS), Aviation Security (AVSEC), Safety Department and Fire Department in addition to the legal department, which would also serve as secretary to the panel.
The panel is expected to find out the remote and immediate cause of the fire and the extent of the damage; the contribution of various departments and proffer solutions and suggestions to stop similar incident from happening again in future.
The panel is also expected to look at other issues that may come up during the investigation and it was given two weeks to submit its report.
“The intention is for us to look into the incident and proffer solutions to prevent future occurrence. The police are also doing their own investigation and any action that will be taken will be based on the report of the investigation panel,” Dunoma said.
Earlier, the Police Commissioner, Airport Police Command, Desan Gwana, spoke with journalists and explained that the fire was noticed by policemen on patrol and alerted the Lagos State and FAAN fire service who mobilised and arrived at the scene to put off the fire.
Gwana said if it were not for the timely arrival of the fire service, the who building would have been engulfed in fire, adding that police had sealed off the affected areas and would discuss with FAAN on how to improve security around the area so that no one would have access to the place under investigation.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Dunoma noted that the incident affected the workers emotionally so they could not settle down to work, noting that there have been plans to build befitting office headquarters for the agency but the new building was still at design level, adding that when the design was completed, the agency would kick-start the construction of a new headquarters.
The existing structure is made up of largely wooden materials, which are gullible to fire.
