U.S., UK closes Lagos consulates

U.S., UK closes Lagos consulates

NIGERIA: The consular offices and diplomatic services of the United States and Britain in Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, were temporarily shut on Friday for security reasons, British diplomatic personnel said.

The decision to close the Deputy High Commission -- what Britain calls its consulates in members of the Commonwealth -- came after the U.S. consulate was shut on Thursday over an unspecified "security issue", a Foreign Office spokesman in London said.

The British mission was closed as a direct result of the U.S. concerns, embassy official Graeme Bannatyne said, but he added that other services were operating as usual and the political office and consulate in the Nigerian capital Abuja were open.

The Nigerian foreign ministry said the "government is actively seized with efforts to investigate and address the situation, in collaboration with the United States authorities".

The U.S. consulate is on Walter Carrington Crescent on Victoria Island, a residential district on the edge of the Lagos lagoon. An official at the Russian embassy, in the same district, said no special measures had been taken, adding he did not know why the Americans had shut down.

Staff at the Indian Embassy, next door to the U.S. one, and German and Italian consulates in the same area said they were working normally. -- AFP