Ex-Govs, Senators Barred From U.S.
By Chinedu Offor , Correspondent Washington DC
Former Governors and their relatives as well as some Nigerian officials have been barred from the United States, in a new directive rolled out by Washington.
Their visas have also been revoked, said the State Department, as the administration tightens entry requirements into the country.
A former Northern Governor, Senators, and businessmen are among thousands of names added to a list of “suspected terrorists and terror group sympathisers” barred from flights bound for the U.S.
The addition of names to the terrorist watch list and the no-fly list came after U.S. officials scrutinised a larger database of suspected terrorists, the White House said.
Homeland Security Department officials explained that those on the watch list are subject to additional scrutiny before being allowed to enter the U.S.
Anyone on the no-fly list is barred from boarding aircraft in or headed for the country.
President Barack Obama, who met for several hours with his national security team, said the measure is to expand the intelligence gathering and make it impossible for suspected terrorists to come to America.
He maintained that preliminary report showed that the name of Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab is on a database of about 550,000 suspected terrorists.
However, Obama added, he was not on a list that would have subjected him to additional security screening or kept him from boarding the flight which took him to the U.S. on December 25 last year.
This omission prompted a review of the National Counter terrorism Center’s massive Terrorist Identities Data mart Environment (TIDE) database, which now contains over one million names from countries designated as sponsors of terrorism.
America on Monday added Nigeria to its list of countries that sponsor terrorists, meaning “enhanced screening of all holders of the Nigerian passport.”
The measure affects any American-bound air passenger travelling through “state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest” such as Pakistan, Yemen, and Nigeria, according to U.S. Transport Security Administration (TSA).
It is to ensure “effective aviation security beyond our borders.”
Nigeria is listed along with Cuba, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen.
By December 30 last year, Nigerian travellers had come up against restrictions in Europe and the U.S.
Obama ordered a comprehensive review of visa policy, tightening regulations for Nigerians, especially students and those aged between 20 and 60.
For those travelling through Amsterdam, the government has approved the use of body scan imaging device, which sees through clothing, to detect explosive devices in any part of the body.
Dutch Interior Minister, Guusje Ter Horst, said Abdulmutallab did not raise any concerns as he passed through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to board the plane which he later attempted to bring down in Detroit.
The measures justify the fears of Nigerians that they will now be singled out for special security attention, although the U.S. State Department assured that the policy is not to punish Nigerians with genuine business in America, or students, but to plug loopholes through which potential terrorists can get in.
http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=6403
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