After four months of intrigues and counter-intrigues over the inclusion of Nigeria on the list of the United State terror watch list, the country has finally been removed from the watch list.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the news was made possible by the concerted efforts made by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), led by its Director-General, Dr Harold Demuren, who had used developments within the aviation sector to convince the US on why the name of the country should not be on the list.
One of the points that favoured Nigeria was the fact that the facilities on the ground at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, made it easy to track down the itinerary of Farouk Abdulmutallab, which showed that he did not leave Nigeria with the explosive device.
Abdulmutallab had attempted to bomb a Detroit-bound American airliner, which took off from Amsterdam.
The listing of Nigeria on the US terror list generated uproar, as Nigerians across the world raised that alarm that Nigeria was not a terrorist state.
Confirming this on her visit to Nigeria, the US DHS Secretary, Janet Napolitano, while speaking on several security measures America took to beef up security, said “seven nations, to date, have joined the US in announcing increased aviation security budgets and accelerated testing and deployment of advanced imaging technologies at their largest airports, including Nigeria.
“These enhancements permitted us to withdraw the 14 countries screening protocol put in place immediately after Christmas,” she added.
~Shola Adekola/Nigerian Tribune
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Nigeria was in favour for the fact that ground facilities at the Murtala Muhammed Airport was a sufficient one that made it easy o track down the itinerary of Farouk Abdulmutallab, which showed that he did not leave Nigeria with the explosive device.