Lagos Carnival

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Another initiative of the Babatunde Raji Fashola Government in Lagos State



Lagos Carnival:
‘Treat Visitors with Utmost Courtesy’
By Sunday Okobi,

04.02.2010

With all arrangements in place for a successful staging of the week long Lagos Carnival 2010,
and Black Heritage Festival, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has urged all operators of hospitality and events businesses in Lagos to treat visitors with utmost courtesy.

Fashola, at a press briefing in Ikeja, said if the visitors are well treated, they can come back next year and keep them as valued customers for a long time to come.”He said the state government decided to leverage on the enormous tourism and economic development potentials of the carnival and Black Heritage Festival events, which would hold from tomorrow to April 9, 2010,

by integrating them into the World Heritage Festival as the high point of a week of exposition of African culture, when Lagos will host millions of people from various parts of the world.“As our state continues to become a beacon of social and economic development and as our guests from far and near begin to arrive, I urge you to receive them with warmth and welcoming smiles and let them feel our world famous Lagos hospitality from end to end."


While emphasizing that the Lagos Carnival will be a celebration of the city's ancestry and plurality of identity, Fashola said 92.3 per cent of the intending 14,500 participants in the Carnival will be drawn from areas outside Lagos Island, which was the traditional base of street carnivals.


He said the carnival would be land and sea based, and urged spectators to be casually attired and mindful of one of the marine creatures, explaining that the routes which would be demanding on participants would be lined by food and drink booths, while conveniences are provided intermittently along the route.


“For this day, restaurants and eateries along the route are encouraged to extend their seating areas outside their premises without obstructing sidewalks or the carnival routes. Spectators are also encouraged to watch the carnival from any point along the route, as all troupes will be visible from any point.

“Although all the troupes will eventually converge at the Tafawa Balewa Square for the viewing comfort of individuals and families, especially children, admission to the TBS is free," he said.






Nationwide Red Alert over Calabar Airport Incident•

Jonathan orders investigationFrom George Oji in Abuja, Chinedu Eze in Lagos and Ernest Chinwo in Calabar, 04.02.2010

Security has been beefed up at the airports in the country following Wednesday’s incident in which a commercial driver rammed into an Abuja-bound Arik airplane at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.

A senior official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), who confirmed this last night, said the Calabar incident was regrettable.

The Federal Government has also ordered immediate investigation of the incident. Government also assured all air travellers that security agencies were working round the clock to continue to keep the nation’s airports very safe and secured.

A man, whose name is yet to be ascertained, had driven a blue Audi 80 salon car with Cross River State registration number XA 254 KMM and rammed into Arik’s Boeing 737 commercial aircraft marked 5N-MJJ. The plane was preparing to take off with 95 passengers on board.
He had bashed through two gates of the Air Force Station before driving to the tarmac where he rammed into the under belly of the aircraft.

Security has, however, been beefed up at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar following the Wednesday incident. According to the Presidency statement signed by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation, Captain Shehu Usman Iyal, government is “appalled by the obvious and unfortunate security breach at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport.

“The Presidency through the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) has directed that detailed investigations be promptly carried out to unravel the circumstances/factors that led to the very unusual venturing of a lone driver onto the otherwise secured tarmac of the Calabar Airport to ram into an Abuja bound Arik Aircraft at the Calabar Airport.”

The statement said requisite agencies and airport authorities were already briefing the National Security Adviser on “this very condemnable breach” at the Calabar airport. Iyal said: “The Presidency is assuring that maximum penalty shall be meted out to concerned persons or airport authorities if any form of dereliction of duty is established as a causative factor in the very embarrassing Calabar airport incident.

“The Calabar incident is indeed a reminder that in spite of our efforts, a lot more needs to be done on improving security as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard and recommended practices in all the airports in the country.”

Also, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) have called on the Federal Government to thoroughly investigate the attack on Arik airplane.

Briefing newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, the AON Assistant Secretary-General, Alhaji Muhammed Tukur, said the association would write a formal letter to the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Aliyu Gusau, for the government to look seriously into the matter.


According to Tukur, the attack was orchestrated and intentional because there are other airlines that use the airport. “There is an attempt for people to threaten our businesses and investments; it seems like it was planned;

they need to improve on security especially at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) and MMA2 (the new domestic terminal at MMIA) and other airports in the country; we should not take this lightly,” the AON scribe said.


Meanwhile, after the failed bombing of American jetliner by a Nigerian in Detroit last Christmas day, it became known that one of the two gates leading to the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja was being manned by the Air Force.

According to officials from the FAAN, many people, especially VIPs, gain entry to the tarmac and board aircraft without going through the mandatory screening carried out by aviation security, in conformity with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.



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