Henceforth, Nigerians will start experiencing what they probably fear the most on the international arena: blacklisting. The country has been added to the infamous list of “countries of interest” and its citizens travelling to the United States would be thoroughly scrutinised, no thanks to Umaru Farouk AbdulMutallab, the would-be bomber who attempted to blow up a transatlantic jetliner on December 25, 2009. But the Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili, has described the move as discriminatory against 150 million Nigerians. THISDAY learnt last night that the National Security Adviser, Gen. Sarki Muktar, has summoned an emergency security meeting for today to discuss the latest development.

Expected to attend the meeting are the heads of the security agencies, including the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), State Security Service (SSS) and the Inspector General of Police. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the US had stepped up measures to stop potential suicide bombers in their tracks. These measures include categorising countries into two – “states sponsors of terrorism” and “countries of interest” followed with enhanced screening. Starting from yesterday, air travellers flying into the US from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Yemen and other "countries of interest" would be subjected to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans, pat-downs and a thorough search of carry-on luggage. The US State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan, North Korea and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism.

The other “countries of interest” whose passengers will face enhanced screening are Afgha-nistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan and Somalia. Additionally, all passengers on US-bound international flights will be subjected to random screening, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced. Airports were also directed to increase "threat-based" screening of passengers who may be acting in a suspicious manner. Akunyili is defending Nigeria vigorously saying AbdulMutallab’s case is a “one off thing”. According to her, the 23-year-old suspect does not represent what Nigeria stands for. “He (AbdulMutallab) was not influenced in Nigeria and he was not recruited or trained in Nigeria.

He was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria and his behaviour is not reflective of Nigerians and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians,” declared the minister. “Nigerians are peace-loving and happy people. We were even voted as the happiest people on earth,” Akunyili stated further. The minister said AbdulMutallab was a well-behaved child from a responsible family who developed an ugly tendency because of his exposure outside the shores of Nigeria. In her reaction, the Chairman House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the US should not have grouped Nigeria with countries where terrorists already have cells. She added that uprisings or killings which Nigerian security agencies had been battling to curtail started even before Al-Qaeda came into existence.

“In fact, we do not in anyway deserve this categorization and I think this is part of failure of leadership because since this happened, we do not have a president speaking with the US President Barack Obama and this is one of the consequences of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua not handing over properly before he travelled for treatment abroad,” she stated. The new security measures came in response to the failed Christmas Day attempt by AbdulMutallab to bomb a Northwest/Delta jetliner as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam. AbdulMutallab is the son of wealthy retired banker, Umaru Mutallab. Reports say his father and mother Aisha will travel to the US for his trial which starts on January 8.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=163437

South Africa should start doing the same!!

OP, are you bringing news or discussion?

This is cold news by the way! Bring ideas and discussions, introduce an angle that heats up the brain and trigger logical response. . .not some dead boring article that we can find on our own., unaided!

The information minister should stop her sing-song about this whole thing mis-representing Nigerians. If the action of one man had brought glory to the nation would they not have claimed it all? Are they not show-casing the works of Wole Soyinka, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Chimamanda Adichie and co? All of whom live abroad.

Is it because those ones have done good works, then you lazily claim it as a govt? And when another person does evil you deny it vehemently? Look let's face it, Nigeria is full of good and evil people alike. Are Boko Haram and Kala Kato Talibans not terrorists? Are they not Nigerians?

This is what you get when you do not have a living president and you get told lies that you do have one. This is what you get when you go around the nation asking for prayers to be said for a dead man. This is what you get when you try rebranding a sick nation instead of seeking urgent medical attention. This is what you get when the nation's education has become so bad that people send their children abroad to 'better' schools where they influence them to become Al Qaeda Jihadists. This is what you get when the nation's hospitals are not good enough to treat her elists while her commoners die daily due to poor medicare. This is what you get from the good people, great nation that has among the world's largest maternal mortality rates.

My heart bleeds for Nigerians but my soul is embittered against the insensitivity of the Nigerian leaders! Michael Kaase Aondokaa and Dora Akunyili inclusive!