LAGBUS commences checking of passengers, luggage at parks

The security measures are targeted at avoiding attacks by Boko Haram.

The LAGBUS Assets Management Ltd., operators of LAGBUS intra-city buses in Lagos State, has ordered its staff to start screening passengers and luggage to enhance security.
Babatunde Disu, LAGBUS Managing Director, who disclosed this at a four-day training organised for its drivers and ground staff in Lagos on Friday, noted that the development became necessary following the current security challenges in the nation.
The training, tagged ‘Performance Improvement Programme for Operation Staff,’ is aimed at equipping members of staff with security tips and customer relation strategies.
Mr. Disu advised commuters to co-operate with the routine checks and urged LAGBUS staff to be polite and courteous to passengers.

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“We need to be security conscious in times like these and we must not be careless in our operations; our lives and that of our users are very important to us,” he said.
He said his staff have the right to check the passengers and their luggage and “anyone who fails to submit should forfeit boarding.”
“I am using this medium to urge our passengers to support this development as it became necessary following the recent bombing attack at a Kano motor park by the Boko Haram sect,” he said.
Addressing the staff, John Umore, Officer-in-charge of the Bomb Detection Squad, Nigeria Police, Lagos Command, urged them to be watchful and vigilant of strange persons and luggage at bus stations and parks.
“You need to be watchful in the course of your duty. Check your buses properly before and after loading. We also want to encourage proper monitoring of goods brought to the parks, check what comes in and goes out of buses,” Mr. Umore said.
The police officer noted that Improvised Explosive Devices, I.E.D, favoured by terrorists, could be in everyday containers.
Mr. Umore added that drivers should guard against abandoning of luggage, filthy environment and indiscriminate movement of strange persons and visitors.
The Deputy Head of Operations, LAGBUS, Olu Ogunmankin, urged its staff to desist from all forms of embarrassment of passengers, stressing that they should learn to be polite.
Mr. Ogunmankin advised LAGBUS drivers to ensure that their vehicle doors were always closed when buses are waiting for loading, so as to prevent the throwing of susceptible objects into them.
He called for the cleanliness of buses and ordered that no dirty bus should be allowed to ply any route henceforth.
“I have received lots of complaints that our buses are dirty. As from now, officers should monitor the cleanliness of buses. A vehicle that is dirty should not be allowed to load passengers again,” he said.
Yemi Odubela, Executive Director, LAGBUS, compelled its members of staff to always wear their identity cards to distinguish them when on routine checks.
“LAGBUS is one of the eyes of government in this time of insecurity, so, we want all our staff to be at alert in the various parks and put on their identity cards for identification,” he said.
(NAN)