A section of the World Trade Centre in Abuja was on Monday morning gutted by fire.

Reports say the fire started during the early hours of the morning from the top of the skyscraper, emitting thick, dark smoke.

At the time of filing this report, the cause of the fire was not known. But, the Federal Fire Service in a tweet announced that its men were on ground to address the situation.

The $1 billion Abuja World Trade Centre with 37 storeys undertaken by the ChurchGate Group is expected to be the tallest building in Nigeria.

In 2011, Vinay Mahtani, Managing Director of ChurchGate Group, said the first phase of the project would be completed in June 2013.

Sitting on a  6.102 hectares of land in the Central Business District of Abuja, on the Constitution Avenue along the city’s main airport road, and adjacent to the main railway station, the multibillion naira project  is being executed through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between First Continental Properties Limited, a subsidiary of the Churchgate Group and the Abuja Investments Company Limited, an agency under the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

According to Ibukun Adeogun, the Chief Marketing Manager of the construction group, “construction will be done in four phases.

“Phase 1 will comprise of a 22-floor Commercial Tower , a 22-floor service apartment tower and a 30,000-40,000 sqm Retail Mall. Phase II will be the twin WTC Towers (35 and 37 floors high). Phases III and IV will depend on demand.”