Nigeria slams 'discriminatory' flight checks

Posted 3 hours 1 minute ago

Nigeria has criticised new security measures for passengers flying to and from the United States as unfair and said they amounted to discrimination against 150 million people.

The US government has announced that travellers from 14 countries, including Nigeria, are to be subjected to extra checks including body pat-downs, after a young Nigerian was accused of trying to blow up a US jet on Christmas Day.

But Nigeria Information Minister Dora Akunyili said that Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, did not have a history of terrorism and such a move could not be justified.

"It is unfair to include Nigeria on the US list for tighter screening because Nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies," Ms Akunyili said.

"It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behaviour of one person."

A 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been accused of trying to trigger an explosion on the Northwest Airlines plane with chemicals which had been stitched into his underwear.

"Abdulmutallab's behaviour is not reflective of Nigerians and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians," Ms Akunyili said.

"He was not influenced in Nigeria. He was not recruited or trained in Nigeria. He was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria."

Prosecutors say that Abdulmutallab tried to carry out the attack after undergoing training by Yemen-based militants who have said they were behind the plot.

- AFP

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... ion=justin