The Embassy of the United States, which is a few metres to the bombed UN building located on Diplomatic Road and its officials were seen responding to the terrorist attack with renewed tightening of security measures.
Saturday Tribune noticed a sense of fear and apprehension at theEmbassy, as vehicles were disallowed from packing opposite the place as was the practice while vehicles that unnecessarily slowed down were put under surveillance.
A diplomatic source toldour correspondent that the diplomatic area wasnot accorded the strategic surveillance it required, as the entry and exit from the area were not secured except for the efforts of the embassies located in the area.
Foreign embassies located in the area, which is also not far from the Defence ministry and military headquarters, include China, United States, Brazil, Ghana, Libya, Niger and others.
American embassy officials had, in the past, applied to the Federal Capital Authority (FCA) to stop the construction of an over-head bridge that was to run right through the back of its embassy, citing securityconcerns.
The matter was, however, unattended to and the overhead bridge and the road construction are still on-going with the entirecompound of the American embassy open and visible once you are on top of the bridge.
As evacuation were going on at the UN Building, a Nigerian employee at the embassy pointed to theover-head bridge at the back of the embassy, saying‘ ‘this bridge is a threat to this embassy.“
The American government, it was learnt, might, again, raise the issue of the over-head bridge, which was designed to emptytraffic from other areasof the Central Business District of the city.
Similarly, security has been beefed up around foreign embassies offices and public buildings in Lagos.
The development, according to a security source, is aimed at preventing any dastardly incident because of the economic relevance of the state to the country.(Nigerian Tribune)
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