Following a recent security warnings, the Lagos State Government has stared preparation against any possible terrorist attack.
According to TheCable, the state government has commenced training on basic emergency response for doctors at all government-owned hospitals. The move is said to be in preparation for cases of emergency, especially during terrorist attack which it noted is no longer impossible following the recent onslaught in the country.
Governor Babatunde Fashola
It was gathered that Governor Babatunde Fashola has been in several meetings with community leaders, alerting them on the need to be vigilant. The governor also gave out the hot lines of top security chiefs to the community leaders. The community leaders were also sensitised on what to look out for and how to handle any suspicious movements and activities in their areas.
A medical source, who spoke on condition of anonymity revealed that important medical materials and drugs have been delivered to all government owned medical facilities, adding that the state has also increased its blood bank as well as the purchase of more ambulances for emergencies purposes.
It said the medical doctors were not left out as they have been holding regular meetings with the state government.
A state government official who didn’t want his name in print said: “It is not an entirely new move by the governor, but it has become paramount with the recent blast in Apapa”.
Meanwhile, TheCable said a top government officials secretly confirmed that the blast that rocked Apapa on June 25, 2014, which reportedly claimed the lives of three people was carried out by a female suicide bomber. It was also gathered that security operatives had earlier been deployed in the Apapa area on surveillance, but was caught unaware by the attack.
“There are many tank farms in Apapa storing millions of litres of petrol and the consequences of a successful terror attack on one depot are unimaginable” the official said, adding that security has been beefed up around critical infrastructure within the state.
The state is preparing against a possible attack because latest security reports revealed that the foot soldiers of the radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram has penetrated the southern region of the country.
Boko Haram, which was designated as a terrorist group by the US government in 2013, was founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, an Islamic scholar. It has carried out series of onslaught which have left scores of people dead. Right from the onset, the sect stood against Western education as they described it as “sin”. It launched its first military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state.