Nigeria's Minister of Youth Development has proposed that the government monitor the religious and social activities of students abroad, and provide guidance counselling and "civic orientation". The controversial plan is a response to the attempted bombing of an American aircraft by a Nigerian student last December and the nation's inclusion on a US list of high security risk countries.

The proposal drew sharp criticism from some Nigerian students and lecturers who believe it infringes the fundamental rights of students. But others welcomed the move, provided it was aimed at inculcating a culture of tolerance.

On 25 December, former London-based Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to blow up an aircraft en route from Amsterdam to the US. The political and diplomatic dust his action stirred up has yet to settle.

Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, Nigeria's Minister of Youth Development, believes it has become imperative to provide orientation for Nigerian students in an effort to avoid a repeat of the ugly Abdulmutallab event.

"It is essential to monitor and mentor Nigerian students abroad," the minister declared. "This is practised by some countries to ensure wrong ideals are not imbibed by them. We intend to link up with the nation's community associations across the globe through Nigerian missions abroad to achieve this goal."

His proposal has divided students and teachers on campuses across the country. Some rejected it outright, arguing that monitoring could create a totalitarian culture reminiscent of former socialist countries in Europe and Asia where students were regimented and lacked freedom of expression.

"In a global world propelled by information technologies and where a diversity of cultures and religions cohabit, Nigerian students abroad do not require the state to mentor and monitor them," argued Akpan Duke, a spokesman for the National Association of Nigerian Student Unions.

Some lecturers were also not comfortable with the proposal. Drawing on philosopher Karl Popper's theory of open society and its enemies, Ndubisi Mathew, a philosophy lecturer at the University of Uyo in southern Nigeria, warned that state intervention in the activities of students abroad would amount to mental imprisonment.

But there is growing, albeit timid, support for the minister's suggestion. It emanates from an important interview granted by Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka to a US website, The Daily Beast . Soyinka suggested that Abdulmutallab and young British 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid were products of excessive and unmonitored freedom of expression in Britain.

Freedom of expression had been exploited by religious fundamentalists and Britain had become a breeding ground for fundamentalism and that threatened world peace," said Soyinka, a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta, US.

"If Nigeria qualifies for a place on the US list of terrorist countries, then admit it, Britain is overqualified," he said. The Soyinka interview was widely circulated on Nigerian campuses when the idea of monitoring students abroad came up.

Some scholars are worried that wealthy religious groups with extremist views are parading around university campuses in Europe and the Americas recruiting students, including Nigerians, as foot soldiers for an imaginary 'final battle' against so-called infidels. Religious extremists also invite students to websites where hate is preached.

The danger of indoctrination of young Nigerian students abroad is real. Even though many students and lecturers would distance themselves from ideas emanating from government officials, they see some merit in the Minister's suggestion. They support interactive sessions between student associations abroad and Nigerian embassies with the aim of encouraging a culture of tolerance.

"The absence of a culture of tolerance leads to all kind of extremism. Nigerian students abroad should be taught how to embrace principles of tolerance," said Sulifat Mahammed, a sociology lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, northern Nigeria.

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