The Commissioner of Police in charge of Western Ports, Mrs. Hilda Ibifuro-Harisson has advised port users on the need to be more security conscious and alert following a recent warning from the United States of America Embassy of a possible terror attack by the dreaded Boko Haram sect on the seaports in Lagos.
It is not the first time such a warning would be made concerning the seaports.
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, claimed responsibility for two explosions that rocked Folawiyo jetty in Apapa, Lagos on June 25 2014.
In a video released by the group on Sunday July 13, 2014, Shekau said: “A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered (the bomber) who went and detonated it.”
The two blasts which occurred minutes apart at the jetty on the ever busy Creek Road, Apapa and which claimed two lives, were almost certainly caused by bombs, according to security sources and bomb experts but the Lagos State government said the blasts were an accident caused by a gas canister.
A British bomb expert however claimed that government’s position was a cover-up meant to prevent panic in the city of 21 million people.
On December 13 2014, the Western Ports Police Command also warned of a possible attack on the ports.
“We are not taking the threat lightly at all and we encourage all stakeholders who visit the port to keep their eyes and ears open in case of the activity of the sect,” Ibifuro-Harisson who was represented at a public function by the Assistant Commissioner in charge of administration, Salem Machree said.
Against the background of the latest threat, the Western Ports Police Commissioner, who spoke exclusively to SHIPS & PORTS DAILY on Thursday said, “Persons doing business at the port have been sensitized to be security conscious and our patrol has also been reinforced.
“We are all at alert and even before now we have always be on alert. Security is everybody’s business so we all need to join hands together and make sure that we take seriously whatever we hear so that we are always at alert.”
Also speaking, Chairman, Port Facility Security Officers Forum (PFSO), Subairu Anataku said security has been placed in top gear within and around the port environs.
He said his group has also raised the level of awareness of its security chiefs to step up security at all their facilities and be more observant to information and movement of people.
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