Security Beefed Up At Presidential Lounge

By Simon Ateba/Adebisi Oyebade

The protocol unit at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, has directed security agencies attached to the airport to beef up security around the VIP hall.

Before now, P.M.News had observed that aviation correspondents from various media organisations and visitors to the lounge were not thoroughly screened before entering the Presidential Wing. It was also observed that there was no metal detector at the entrance of the lounge and during interview sessions with the President or other top government officials, State Security Service personnel always had a hectic time identifying journalists.

“I always have a problem with journalists here, because my job is to guarantee the security and the safety of personalities that come into the lounge,” an SSS official told P.M.News.

“If anything goes wrong, I will be blamed. You can see that journalists that come in here are not searched. It is not supposed to be so.

“Very important people like the president, the vice-president, governors and foreign dignitaries pass through here. We can’t just allow anybody to come in here to interact with them. There are people that have no business being here and we have to stop them from coming in.

“Some journalists here think we are not friendly, but they have to understand that as they are looking for news, we are concerned with the safety and security of personalities that come here,” he explained further.

P.M.News learnt that identity cards would soon be issued to accredited journalists in the lounge.

Already, some identification forms have been sent to media organisations to identify their aviation correspondents as part of measures to beef up security at the Presidential Wing.