Although no life was lost to the incident, it was said property worth millions of naira was lost to the inferno.
Our correspondent, who was at the scene of the disaster on Wednesday, observed that about 17 offices of the ministry, which included that of the Commissioner, Permanent Secretary and directors were razed.
The fire was said to have raged for about five hours – from 8pm till 1am– before it was put out.
It was learnt that firefighters from the state’s main fire service station on Ahmadu Bello Way were overwhelmed and could not do much until firefighters from Ilorin International Airport came to the scene. By then, much damage had been done.
One of the security men at the ministry, Mohammed Alabi, said he noticed the fire at the building at about 8pm when he was praying.
He said, “I ran to the police station so that the police officers could contact officials of the nearby fire service station because I don’t have their telephone numbers.”
The Commissioner for Energy, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, lamented the loss.
“He said most of the offices where vital documents are kept, such as the Accounts Department, Department of Research and Planning, Department of Energy Generation, Energy Distribution Department and Department of Registry were not affected.
He stated that the governor had been informed of the incident, adding that the ministry had started evaluating the level of damage.
Abdullahi said, “Around 8pm on Tuesday, there was a call from one of the security men that our complex was on fire.
“As God will have it, no life was lost during the fire incident. We discovered it was as a result of power surge from one of the offices.”
The Head of Service, Alhaji Mohammed Dabarako, said he had instructed relevant departments to ascertain the cost of the damage.
He said, “On Tuesday morning, there was no light here. But in the evening, electricity was suddenly restored, which caused the fire.”
Dabarako said the workers, whose offices were affected, would be relocated.
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