Academics and students have slammed the US government's inclusion of Nigeria on a list of high security risk countries, following last month's failed attempt to blow up a US plane by former London-based Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. They are concerned that the US action will undermine academic exchange between the countries.

World-renowned writer Wole Soyinka, a visiting professor at Atlanta University, became one of the early victims of the special screening of Nigerians at US airports when he boarded a Delta Airline plane at Atlanta City airport heading for Lagos. All Nigerians were subjected to special security checks.

"The decision of the US to include Nigeria on the list of countries whose citizens undergo extra security scrutiny at US airports is punishment of innocent Nigerians," Soyinka said.

The embittered intellectual added: "Already you can no longer check in on some airlines on the internet. The moment the word Nigeria appears, you cannot go further even though every other thing was done. These are consequences for us and this is what I want the US government to understand. They are harassing the people and not the government."

The National Association of Nigerian Students warned that if Nigeria was not removed from the list of countries encouraging terrorism, it could dampen the enthusiasm of wealthy students to go to the US for tertiary education.

Spokesman David Anietie reminded the Obama Administration there were two million Nigerians legally resident in the US. According to Anietie, Nigeria had the highest number of African students in US universities.

"These students may gradually migrate to Europe if they perceive that they are discriminated against," he warned.

Another outcome of US action against Nigeria has been cancellation of some international seminars and workshops scheduled to take place in Nigerian universities. Some participants from North American and European universities pulled out at the last moment because of negative perceptions following the US classification of Nigeria as a 'security risk state'.

Participants in a workshop, organised by the department of history at the University of Uyo on the role of Nigeria in UN peacekeeping efforts, pointed out that Nigeria and the US were key players in peacekeeping programmes in Africa. Nigeria supplies the troops and the US and other developed nations provide the weapons and logistics.

"Nigeria is expected to send in troops to Somalia for the UN peacekeeping project. The recent US attitude towards Nigeria may discourage the Nigerian leadership from participating in the programme," said Wale Dokun, a history lecturer at the University of Maiduguri. "The classification of Nigeria by the US as a potential haven for terrorism does not go down well with Nigerians."

Some scholars believe the Palestine Question is a root cause of international terrorism by extremist groups. They have urged the international community to find a lasting political solution to the complex Middle East crisis as a way to reduce global terror.

In a television debate in Lagos, academics and international relations experts pointed out that virtually all groups preaching terror claim their action is motivated by the struggle to 'liberate' Palestine from Israel.

Finding a lasting solution in the Middle East would remove the rug from under the feet of groups bent on using terrorism as a weapon to liberate Palestine, they said.

COMMENT:

As an expatriate academic, myself and my family spent 25 years in Nigeria. During this period, there was not a single moment when we were molested or maltreated by any Nigerian. Our own experience tells us that Nigeria is an easy-going, peace-loving nation that means no harm to no other country. Nigeria is certainly not a "security risk" state because of the actions of one misguided individual who was mostly educated outside Nigeria. It is a gross misjudgement to conclude that Nigeria is a terror state to warrant extra security checks of Nigerians at foreign airports. Nigeria has openly demonstrated its willingness to co-operate with the outside world to ensure that checking at the Nigerian airports is thorough to avoid a repetition of any lapse at the airport check-in points. After all, the same individual filtered through Amsterdam's airport despite all its modern security equipment. The Netherlands was not singled out as a "security risk" state. Please give Nigerians and Nigeria a chance to continue to march on the path of peace and honour. One single incident is not enough to condemn the whole nation.

Professor V C Sharma

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