A night fire has burnt down the female hostel of Government Secondary School (GSS) Kuje, Abuja.
A student of the school, who spoke with our reporter yesterday on condition of anonymity, said the fire broke out on Wednesday at about 10:14pm.
He said the fire, which was caused by a charcoal pressing iron, razed down the female hostel, adding that mattresses, clothes, school uniforms, books and some other valuables of the students were burnt to ashes.
“We were in prep when we saw thick smoke billowing from the female hostel and before the Fire Service people came, the building has already razed down completely, but we thank God no life was lost,” he said.
The chairman of the FCT Secondary Education Board (SEB), Alhaji Musa Yahaya Muhammad, confirmed the fire incident to our reporter via telephone.
He also attributed the fire incident to a charcoal iron, which he said was kept under the bed of one of the students.
He said the board was saddened over the fire outbreak, even as he said, they were thanked God that no life was lost in the inferno.
He said the board had already directed the school management to take stock of all properties affected and write a report to the mandate secretary for education for urgent intervention.
The board chairman said he had donated 20 electric irons, while his director also donated five to discourage the students from using charcoal irons in the hostel.
He said the affected students had already been relocated to available hostels within the school as a palliative measure pending when the affected building would be repaired. Daily Trust