As the Nigeria awaits the report of the committee set up to investigate both the immediate and remote causes of the fire outbreak that engulfed the Marina, Lagos, Headquarters of the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA). The ravaged some offices including that of its chairman. Many still finger foul play as the fire incident coincided with the probing of the transport sector.

Although the managing director of NPA, Mallam Abdul Salam Mohammed, at the wake of the disaster, had declared that though sabotage was not ruled out because a panel of investigation was being set up to investigate the incident that destroyed part of the sixth floor of the building, said that no document was razed by the fire.

"We don't keep any of our document in the affected area. We don't keep our financial document in the area," the MD said.

He equally ushered journalists into his own office, which was not affected by the fire proved that reports from some other quarters alleging that his office was torched by the inferno was a mere speculation.

The MD who also conducted the Transport Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who arrived NPA a day after the disaster to access extent of the damage done, round the affected areas, noted that the fire started around 9a.m. from the board room, adding that the NPA fire service, the Lagos state Fire Service Department, Lagos state Emergency Management Agency, the Union Bank Fire Service and Julius Berger Plc swiftly moved in to put out the fire within two hours.

"They all provided men and equipment to fight the fire. We are grateful to God, that there was no loss of life and no injury was recorded besides a part of the sixth floor that was destroyed. The affected areas were essentially the boardroom, correspondence office and that of the chairman including one other office. No sensitive document was lost in the fire," Mohammed said.

He was glad to say that the NPA does not keep any of its documents in the affected area.

While he also explained that no financial document was lost, the MD regretted that people read negative meanings to anything that happens, adding that it was a natural tendency in Nigeria.

The MD who refused to rule out sabotage, pointed out that the issue should be left to the investigators.

"Let us assume it is an accident, the investigative team will find out. I will like Nigerians to look at things from informed position. When there is fire, the professionals will have to do investigation and come out with a report. The report of the investigation will be made public," he said.

Speaking earlier, Mrs. Alison-Madueke, said there was need to review, extensively, all precautionary fire fighting measures in all government buildings in the country in terms of equipment and personnel.

She praised the effort of NPA, Union Bank Nigeria Plc, Lagos State Government, Julius Berger Plc and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency who mobilised men and equipment to contain the fire.

"It goes to show the cooperation spirit that we have amongst some of the agencies and businesses in this area," she said.

In addition, she said that precautionary measures will be put in place to guide against future occurrence. The Minister was however, optimistic that the cause of the fire would be unearthed. "When we have determined the root cause, then it will be easier to put in place precautionary measures. There is standard fire fighting equipment that would be put in place as it is being done all over the world."

There were various speculations from different quarters that the fire outbreak was beyond mere accident as it could be a deliberate act of arson to destroy important documents and materials to frustrate the ongoing investigation of the financial activities of the NPA by a panel set up by the National Assembly.

Managing Director, NPA, was quick to dispel the rumours, when he said he would be glad to provide any document as requested by the constituted authority.

"I won't like to link the fire outbreak to the panel in the National Assembly."

Mohammed frowned at the negative attitude of Nigerians, saying "we tend to have negative attitude, reading negative meanings to whatever happened. Let's begin from the positive. It's the outcome of the investigation that will determine the cause of the accident."

He explained that a multi disciplinary committee has been set up to assess the incident and to determine the situation to ascertain the real cause of the fire outbreak.

The MD, who could not immediately quantify the cost and value of the damage, said there were objective methods of doing this: "to determine the cost, you will have to think of what was there before. It is not a mere guess. You will also think of replacement cost. It is then you will reach a conclusion on what the total cost will be. "But Nigerians reach conclusion without taking care of all these aspects. It's not possible for me to give you the cost now, but you may have a mental picture of the value. Let me tell you that the cost will be very minimal. You can classify it as minimal considering the extent of damage done and things kept in the building."

The true cost of the damage, he revealed, would be made known very soon when the team working on it completes its work.

The fire outbreak coincided with the visit of President Umar Musa Yar'Adua to the Lagos Port. This visit, it was gathered, would have taken the president to the NPA headquarters in Marina but was stalled by the news of the NPA fire.

The early Thursday fire has been alleged to be a grand design to stall the ongoing probe of the government agency over alleged mismanagement of public funds.

Several people are worried why the fire should start from the sensitive areas which housed the chairman's office and the adjoining correspondence office, which is the store house of letters and other vital documents, may have been kept particularly the correspondence office. Though the MD had cleared the air on that insinuation, insisting that no sensitive document was lost to the fire.

This, however, has prompted the thinking of many that the fire incident may be a premeditated attempt to destroy vital documents which might indict some government functionaries and officials of the agency in the probe instituted by the Senate.

The Senate had set up an ad-hoc committee to probe the financial transactions in the NPA under the ministry of transportation.

The committee led by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri at the wake of their mandate had directed all the sections in the ministry to submit their bank statements from 1999 till date.

However, investigation revealed that as at the time of the inferno, NPA and NIMASA had not submitted theirs. It was gathered that only Nigeria Shippers' Council (NCS)complied with the directive and very promptly.

There was indeed allegations of monumental fraud allegedly committed when Bode George was the chairman of the board between 2001 and 2003 while Aminu Dabo was the MD and the fear was that either the current NPA management or few persons may have been contracted to destroy some incriminating documents in whatever means possible.

Reacting to the fire incident, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee was quoted that he heard that part of NPA headquarters was burnt. He maintained that the bank's statements would not be burnt because the banks would be in custody of whatever transactions that may have taken place over the years.

He maintained that nothing would prevent the committee from carrying out a comprehensive probing exercise on the board.