The US government announced that travellers from 14 countries, including Nigeria, are to be subjected to extra checks including body pat-downs after a young Nigerian was accused of trying to blow up a US jet on Christmas Day.
But Nigeria's Information Minister Dora Akunyili said that Africa's most populous nation did not have a history of terrorism and such a move could not be justified.
"It is unfair to include Nigeria on the US list for tighter screening because Nigerians do not have terrorist tendencies," Akunyili told journalists.
"It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behaviour of one person," said the minister.
A 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been accused of trying to trigger an explosion on the Northwest Airlines plane with chemicals which had been stitched into his underwear.
"Abdulmutallab's behaviour is not reflective of Nigerians and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians," said Akunyili.
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