A fire that broke out at the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) 100,000 metric tonnes Silo complexes in Kwali, Abuja, has been out by the Federal Fire Service, THE CONCLAVE can authoritatively report.
But before the fire was put out, it had consumed two Silo bins out of the twenty bins at the 17 Silo complexes that were concessioned to the private sector for use.
THE CONCLAVE further reports that only 9,000 metric tonnes of maize out of the 60,000 metric tonnes, currently stocked in the Kwali Silo, were burnt.
Credible information from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that evacuation of the burnt grains “is ongoing with the assistance of Fire Service and other technical support personnel to ensure that other Silos are not affected.”
A top official in the Ministry of Agriculture, in response to an enquiry by THE CONCLAVE, said that the concerns by some Nigerians who adverted the attention of this publication to the fire incident were genuine and commendable.
A reader of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper, Adebayo Sidikat Abimbola, had sent a WhatsApp message to the Editor to escalate the report of the fire and the smoke billowing from the Silos to the relevant authorities to intervene decisively to stop the fire from spreading to the other eighteen silo bins.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development top official explained to THE CONCAVE that “the current smoke is from the burnt grains” and not from the spread of fire to the other bins as the fire had since been put out.
He said that the officials of the Ministry led by the Hon. Minister had already visited the site.
He also confirmed that the private sector company managing the silos complexes, Messrs Matrivell, was advised to immediately evacuate all grains from the silos.
