U.S. says to reconsider rating of Nigeria on terror watch list

The United States said on Tuesday that it would do all it could to speedily review its listing of Nigeria as a country of interest in the war against terror.

Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy visit to Nigerian Acting President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House in Abuja.

"We will do all we can toward a speedy review of Nigeria's listing as a country of interest in the war against terrorism. Nigeria remains a friend and a partner of America," he said.

"The decision to list Nigeria on the terror watch-list was driven by the overall concern about international terrorism. We know that 99.9 percent of Nigerians are law-abiding," he added.

"It is, however, important that we work together to protect ourselves globally," Carson told Jonathan.

Jonathan had earlier urged the U.S. government to reconsider its stand on Nigeria's listing.

He reiterated that the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane by a Nigerian, Farouk AbdulMutallab, was isolated.

Jonathan said that AbdulMutallab would not have had such inclinations if he had lived in Nigeria for most of his adult life.

He gave assurance that the Nigerian government would do everything possible to work with the United States and the international community to ensure that such incident would not repeat itself.

The acting president informed Carson that he had directed the Nigerian security agencies to cooperate with their American counterparts in the investigation of the incident.

According to him, 3D body scanners had been introduced in Nigerian airports.

Source: Xinhua