US gives conditions to de-list Nigeria

Details: Category: International; Published on Friday, 12 February 2010 12:52; Written by Admin; Hits: 1564

Nigeria will be struck off the list of 'countries of int erest' by the United States if the African nation can meet four conditions. The conditions, issued by the US - according to Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe - include that the Nigerian government must make a public condemnation of acts of terrorism wherever they occur in the world and for Nigeria to take urgent steps to address security lapses at its airports.

Other conditions are that Nigeria must be a party to an agreement to deploy air marshals on all US-bound flights originating from Nigeria and that the anti-terrorism bill pending before the National Assembly mu st be passed into law.

Maduekwe disclosed the conditions to the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs in the capital city of Abuja Thursday.

The US Transportation Security Administration 4 January 2010 listed Nigeria alongside Yemen, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia as countries whose citizens must be su bjected to extra screening for US-bound flights

'Beginning from (today) January 4, 2010, passengers flying into the United States from certain countries will be subjected to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs. The order includes the r equirement that all passengers on US-bound international flights will be subjected to random screening,' it said.

The decision to put Nigeria on what is now widely called terror list follows the failed attempt by a Nigerian national, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blowup an American jetliner over Detroit, Michigan, on the last Christmas Day.