Free stuff is never appreciated.
Africa often seems to deserve its reputation as a total botch job and wasteland.
While it seems to have escaped notice, the story Nigerian authorities tell about full-body scan systems differs markedly from what U.S. security officials are saying.
If it were in the U.S. Congess, it would be clear that somebody is lying. In fact, the details make it clear that this is precisely what is happening.
From the Los Angeles Daily News (update Jan. 1, 2010):
“The U.S. gave Nigeria four full-body scanners for its international airports in 2008 to detect explosives and drugs, but none were used on the man suspected trying to blow up a Detroit-bound flight, Nigerian officials say.
“Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tracked by cameras through the security check, only went through a metal detector and had his bag X-rayed when he arrived at Nigeria’s busiest airport to start his journey, the officials say.
“Harold Demuren, the head of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters Wednesday that his government would buy 3-D full-body scanners for the airports, and insisted there were currently none there.
“But on Thursday, Ofoyeju Mitchell of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, told the AP that one of the machines sits in a room near the security checkpoint in Lagos’ often chaotic international airport.
“He said they aren’t used on every passenger. Instead, drug agents select frequent flyers, travelers heading to and from drug shipment points, and people who seem deceptive or under stress. Nigeria is a major transit point for Afghan heroin and South American cocaine.
“‘The frequency of checks is determined by the risk level of our assessment … (and) reasonable cause for suspicion,’ Mitchell said.
“Such limited use is not what the U.S. State Department intended when it gave Nigeria the scanners.”
Nigerian authorities may have been sending up a smokescreen when they emphasized how little time the Nigerian terrorist spent at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, perhaps hinting that, if they had had more time, they might have apprehended Abdulmutallab.
One press source in Nigeria said Abdulmutallab was in the airport for only 27 minutes, while another claimed he passed through in only 23 minutes.
Communications Minister Dora Akunyili said the 23-year-old terrorist “spent less than 30 minutes in Nigerian airport” before boarding the flight to Amsterdam on December 24.
She went on to deny any wrongdoing by the Nigerian government over the security breakdown which allowed Abdulmutallab so slip through “security” and continue on his way.
NEXT.COM, a leading source of Nigerian and African news, reports that the official struggled to distance the government from international shock waves over the incident:
“Nigeria bears no blame for the action of the Nigerian being held in the United States over charges of terrorism, Nigerian minister of information and communication, Dora Akunyili, said Sunday in Lagos.
“Mrs. Akunyili, who spoke at the Sheraton Hotel and Suites, Lagos, also said Nigerian airports are very safe and the government will tighten security at the airports. It appears the minister was responding to statements credited to US officials, which blamed assumed lax security at Nigerian airports for the incident.”
The suspect, Farouk Abdul Muttalab, flew from Lagos to Amsterdam to Detroit.
“He sneaked into the country,” the Nigerian official protested.
Not good enough. The long and short of it is that Nigeria blew it, and while the heat over the squandered gift of full-body scanning equipment is intense enough, the aftermath would have been truly fierce if the despicable terrorist had destroyed a U.S. airliner loaded with passengers.
Who is running the store?