Following a U.S. State Department terror attack warning for Nigeria, State Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni held a meeting with high-end hotel owners/managers in Lagos informing them of the warning, and then urged them to increase security, so reports Nigeria’s The Guardian.

For its part, the Lagos police have arrested some 200 criminals that may or may not be associated with the threat warning, they are conducting additional raids on suspect personnel, and they are keeping streets free of traffic jams and “street traders,” presumably to blunt terrorist placement of IEDs and to keep transportation lines open in the event of emergency.

A few days before on 9 December, This Day Live says that Mr. Oluseye Oladejo, the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, held a Lagos-based meeting announcing major security initiatives in light of the approaching Christmas holiday season, and recent terror warnings, and recent terror attacks in the U.S., Mali, Nigeria, and France, among others.

Commissioner Oladejo urged increased security at “amusement parks, shopping malls, casinos, cinemas, restaurants, clubs, hotels and event places” throughout Lagos state.

He moreover asked “religious bodies, event centers, and club owners” to act as additional eyes and ears for the state and to report anything suspicious.

Government officials were light on the exact security measures to be applied, but based on their threats to enforce these measures by penalty of law, they are taking the threat warnings seriously, and they insist that the listed business sectors do as well. In the past several weeks, there have been terrorist attacks on hotels in Egypt, Somalia, and Mali, and even the November attacks in Paris involved violence on and near hotels. More, the terrorists involved in that citywide raid staged from a hotel south of Paris. Tunisia recently foiled a major hotel attack in November as well.

Accordingly, government officials in Lagos have obviously taken note and are aiming to prevent like attacks in their country.

Sources and further reading:

“Police Alert Hotel Owners In Lagos To Possible Terror Attack,” The Guardian (Nigeria,) 12 December 2015.

“LASG Reels out Anti-terror Measures ahead of Yuletide, This Day Live, 10 December 2015.

“Security Message for U.S. Citizens: Areas Frequented by Westerners Possible Targets for Extremist Groups,” U.S. Department of State, 4 December 2015.

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