Americas

Home page

Americas

US gives Nigeria conditions for terror de-listing

12 February 2010 03:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The United States has given Nigeria four conditions it should meet before it is removed from the list of terror watch list, APA reports citing AFP.

The minister of foreign affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, disclosed this at a meeting with the House of Representatives committee of foreign affairs in Abuja on Thursday.

The conditions, according to the minister, are public condemnation of any form of terrorism anywhere in the world; improvement of security in the nationâ€™s airports; deployment of air marshalls on board of aircraft, and passing legislative laws on anti-terrorism. The committee chairman, Bature Umar, who briefed journalists after the meeting held behind closed-doors, said it was convened to enable the minister brief the committee members on the alleged aborted plan by a 23 year old Nigerian, Farouk Umaru AbdulMutallab to bomb an American plane last Christmas day.

He also said that the minister was called to give the lawmakers insight into the reasons for the inclusion of Nigeria on the list by the US. According to Mr. Bature, the minister explained the role Mr. AbdulMutallabâ€™s father played before and after the incident and also briefed the lawmakers on the reports of the US State Department on terrorism.
He quoted Mr. Maduekwe as saying that in the 2009, 2008 and 2007 reports, Nigeria got commendation from the US on its campaign against terrorism and that it (Nigeria) was named as one of the countries that has given that country the greatest support since the September 11, 2001 terrorism attack. Mr. Bature also said that the minister and the committee members identified issues of bilateral interest to the two countries, some of which are the deployment of troops in Sudan and Somalia, the transformation of the Africa Union to African Union Authority, and the failure of Nigerian embassy in the US to pay tax totaling $16 million.

The committee chairman debunked the claim in some quarters that the inclusion of Nigeria on the watch list make it a terrorist country. According to him, Nigeria was listed as a â€œcountry of interest,â€ which means that anybody flying from or through Nigeria, irrespective of his citizenship should be watched. A member of the committee, Gbenga Oduwaiye, said that the interaction with Mr. Maduekwe has erased the impression that the listing of Nigeria on the terror watch list has to do with Nigeria as a country.

Before the meeting went into closed-doors, Mr. Maduekwe had praised the committee for the position it took when Mr. AbdulMutallab was caught for allegedly trying to bomb the American plane.

â€œIt is in the public domain that you did express concern and you took decision that diplomacy should prevail on this matter. Based on this inspiring position, it has made our work easier. This shows that a lot can be achieved if the legislature and the executive work together,â€ the minister said.