Terror alert: FG tightens security around Abuja airport

AS the air of apprehension continues to blow over the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, over possible terror attacks, the Federal Government has tightened security around the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport located in the city. 

This is just as some foreign airlines have changed some of their policies in respect of Abuja operations as a way of leaving no stone unturned in response to the terror alert. Following the terror alert, the British flag carrier, British Airways, for example, has introduced a policy directing its crew to henceforth observe their night rest in Lagos and no more in Abuja. 

A source told Tribune Online that the new policy was responsible for the diversion of the airline’s London-Abuja flight to Lagos on Thursday to enable the airline drop the crew that operated the flight in Lagos and then pick a fresh crew from Lagos to operate the Abuja-London flight. 

According to the source, the diversion of the flight in question to Lagos fell in line with the new security policy of the management of British Airways to protect its crew and workers against any danger while in Abuja. 

Besides British Airways, other foreign airlines operating in Abuja are still doing so but under more tightened security. 

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The high-security consciousness of foreign airlines is traceable to the security alerts from the United States, British and Australian governments warning of possible attacks on public places, including government buildings, shopping malls, hotels, and transport terminals. Speaking to Tribune Online on Friday, the spokesperson of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, confirmed that security has been beefed up around the Abuja airport in view of the terror alert. 

According to Hope-Ivbaze, the FAAN cannot afford to slack in the area of securing the airports and the users and therefore all hands are on deck to avoid being caught napping. 

She, however, refused to divulge the security arrangements the organisation has taken to fortify the Abuja airport and others against attacks by criminal elements. In response to the terror alert, security operatives have, since Thursday, been deployed around important public places like the airport and government facilities. 

While many parts of the roads leading to the airport have been occupied by military and police personnel, cars going into the airport to drop or pick passengers are screened while suspicious movements are quickly intercepted amid thorough interrogation. 

A source in one of the foreign airlines attributed the rumour that foreign carriers may divert all their flights to Lagos to the heightened tension created by the terror alert.

As of late Thursday, there were no signs that any international airline was willing to halt operations into the city as airlines like Rwandair and Air Côte d’Ivoire still operated out of Abuja.