The Nigerian government has intensified passenger screening and other security measures for all commercial flights arriving or departing from the country. The measure, which took effect earlier this month, followed threats of renewed attacks by jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS.
Although no imminent threats were immediately identified by federal authorities, it is believed that the reported influx of ISIS fighters displaced from Iraq, Syria and other Middle East territories into Nigeria is valid enough to impose new requirements at the nation’s airports.
The Secretary to the central government, Boss Mustapha, alerted the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA; the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, and the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, to a threat issued by ISIS last April.
The government alert had said, “Although Africa appears not to be on ISIS immediate focus, the return to Africa of former ISIS fighters from Iraq and Syria, as well as the existence of ISIS-linked groups, such as the Boko Haram faction led by Abu Al-Barnawi, calls for increased vigilance in the aviation sector to counter possible new strategies in the ISIS terror campaign”.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for downing a Russian passenger flight in 2015, killing 224 people. The group’s attacking capabilities have been severely degraded over the past year, and it is believed to be holding less than three per cent of its former strong-hold in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
