Nigerian schools to close for security

All schools and government offices in Nigeria’s capital will close during a three-day international conference next week, according to a presidential order that follows two bomb attacks in three weeks that killed nearly 100 people in Abuja.

A statement Friday night said the measure “is to ease the flow of traffic” during the May 7-9 World Economic Forum on Africa to which hundreds of international personalities, business and African leaders are invited. Chinese premier Li Keqiang is the guest of honour.

The government has said it is deploying 6,000 police and troops to help secure the event, and president Goodluck Jonathan has assured delegates they will be safe.

Further indicating Nigeria’s security threats, the US embassy warned Americans in an email Friday that extremists were planning “an unspecified attack” on a Sheraton hotel in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

The hotel chain has two locally-owned franchises in the south-eastern city of about 20 million people. A duty manager at the Sheraton in Ikeja suburb, near the international airport, said he was unaware of any threat.

Explosions on April 14 and May 1 in Abuja, in the centre of the country, are blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram terrorist network that has targeted schools and slaughtered hundreds of students.