The listing of Nigeria as one of the seven countries on the United States of America top security watch will affect the rate of investment in Nigeria, except the federal government takes steps to strengthen its foreign policies, the President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Bashir Borodo, has said.
The U.S. has grouped Nigeria with Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen as countries to watch. This group differs from another made up of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria that have been classified as state sponsors of terror.
Mr. Borodo said the U.S. has over-reacted to the issue and that its decision is harsh, compared to its reactions to similar incidents in the past.
He said: “I recall the shoe bomber that was caught about two years ago; a British citizen carrying almost the same type of chemical in the shoe, no special restrictions were imposed on his country as a result of this. So why Nigeria, why Nigeria?”
Mr. Borodo said, “It is a very bad development for our economy at this stage that we are struggling to regain our status and stabilise the economy. I think it is an overreaction that is not fair to us.”
A professor of International Relations at the University of Lagos, Kayode Soremekun, said enlisting Nigeria is like placing the sin of one person on a whole nation of 140 million people. “Considering the history of terrorism,” he said, “Nigeria does not deserve to be added to whatever kind of list the U.S. might draw up on this.
Decision is hasty
“Nigeria’s economy is already a weakened one and the impact of such a decision might not be seriously felt by an average Nigerian. They are acting in the heat of moment. When the heat comes down, they might look back.
“Nigeria is already a weakened state. Our leaders have given us a bad image outside there. We are known for other things, if not terrorism and Nigeria cannot have any leverage on the U.S.A. So, there is now an uneven relationship between the leadership of the two countries.”
A senior research scholar at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), who spoke on condition of anonymity because he needed to get clearance before talking to the press, however, said the listing might not have much impact on the nation.
“Well, I don’t think it will have much implication on us.
What the US was doing was within the anti-terrorism campaign and not an economic sanction. It has more to do with their own security image.
“It has dampened the image of this country. If you cast back on the OBJ (former president Obasanjo) era, all he was doing was to give the country a good image. But that now depends on the strength of our foreign policy, it must be stronger, though it will affect foreign investment. Violence is destructive and not constructive and with the present way that Nigeria has been linked to such, it will definitely affect the rate of investment. Remember that investment is about using capital to make profit.”
De-list Nigeria
The Inspector General of Police, Ogbonnoya Onovo has, however, called on the U.S. government to de-list Nigeria from the watch list in the light of the country’s cooperation with U.S. officials since the December 25 incident.
“In light of all this, the Transport Security Administration of the United States is hereby called upon to de-list Nigeria from the countries of interest. Nigerian travellers to the United States need not be subjected to extraordinary hardship. There are no security issues in the country. The new policy is unfair,” Mr. Onovo said “There are convicted terrorists who are American, British and Belgian citizens, and this fact has not made the TSA regard either Britain or Belgium as a country of interest. For the avoidance of doubt, I would like to point out that Hamid Hyat, who was convicted in April 2007 of terrorism, is an American. Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence in the United States for attempting on December 22, 2001 to bomb an American commercial plane flying from Paris to Miami, is a British citizen. His collaborator, Nizar Trabelsi, is Belgian.
“If the American authorities could not add Britain and Belgium to the list of countries of interest, then there is no objective reason to include Nigeria. We may be deeply religious, but certainly we are no suicide bombers or terrorists. Both the Nigerian government and the people abhor fanaticism. We have zero policy tolerance towards Al Queda in Nigeria. We strongly condemn unequivocally all kinds of terrorism.
“It is self-evident that Farouk Abdultallab has no Nigerian cohorts. It is also self-evident that he did not develop radical religious views in Nigeria, but abroad.” Mr. Onovo said.