DESPITE the Federal Government’s opposition, the United States government is mounting pressure to place gun-carrying US Marshals on every flight between Nigeria and the US as part of America’s war against terrorism.
So far, the Federal Government has ignored the request despite what the U.S. is describing as “repeated requests” from it to the Nigerians.
In the 2008 annual report on terrorism released by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the head of the State Department in Washington on Thursday afternoon, the U.S. government said although the Nigerian government has taken other positive steps on counterterrorism, including the pursuit of a legislative bill, the request of the Americans to use U.S. Federal Air Marshals on air travels between both countries has not yet been approved by Nigeria.
“Despite repeated requests from the U.S. government, however, the Nigerian government has not yet approved the use of U.S. Federal Air Marshals on direct flights between Nigeria and the United States,” says the report launched in Washington DC by Clinton.
In U.S. since 2004, the Secretary of State is required to provide the Congress, “a full report on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set forth in the legislation,” by April 30 of each year. This is one of the reports the State Department must produce on a yearly basis. Another is the yearly human rights reports.
Nigeria is one of the countries that meet the U.S. law criteria mandating annual terrorism report, and the annual reports which cover several many countries around the world is titled “Country Reports on Terrorism.”
It is believed that part of the international concern regarding U.S. government’s placement of Air Marshall on flights after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when terrorists seized US airliners, is the issue of their carrying guns on the flight.
According to the American government, the Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) have been trained and are deployed “to detect, deter, and defeat hostile acts targeting U.S. air carriers, airports, passengers, and crews.”
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) added that U.S. Federal Air Marshals operate independently without backup, and rank among those U.S. “Federal law enforcement officers that hold the highest standard for handgun accuracy.”
While in the aircraft, “they blend in with passengers and rely on their training, including investigative techniques, criminal terrorist behaviour recognition, firearms proficiency, aircraft specific tactics, and close quarters self-defense measures to protect the flying public.”
In several US local and international flights such Air Marshals have been present since the adoption of new counterterrorism laws following the Sept 11 terror attacks on the US.
But while the Nigerian government has cooperated with the US government in other counterterrorism areas, it has been reluctant to even respond to US requests on Air Marshals.
On the positive side, according to the report, for instance, “the Nigerian government approved the installation of U.S.-funded body scanners in all four international airports to detect explosives and drugs on passengers. The scanners were installed in March, May, and June 2008.”
The report also noted that both the Nigerian and U.S. governments co-sponsored a conference on aviation security in Abuja from November 17 to 18 last year.