A Nigerian delegation led by Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe on Tuesday met with the United States security officials on the listing of Nigeria as one of the countries of interest.
The U.S. government had in response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. jetliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit by Nigerian-born Farouk Muttallab listed Nigeria among 14 countries of interest on terror watch list.
Other African countries on the list are Somalia, Libya, Algeria and Sudan.
The U.S. government also increased security screenings for air travellers.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the U.S. Envoy in Nigeria, Robin Sanders, led the officials from the U.S. Homeland Security to the
meeting in the minister's office.
The Nigerian minister had summoned Sanders to his office, during which he expressed displeasure over the listing of Nigeria by the U.S. government.
"The listing of Nigeria on the second tier of countries that are on the radar on security measures to the U.S. is an unacceptable New Year gift to a friendly country like Nigeria," he said.
"We detect some double standard here. What Farouk attempted to do is not different from what the Shoe Bomber did in 2001 and yet his country was
not put on the security list," the minister added.
Maduekwe described the inclusion of Nigeria on the list as counter productive insisting that his country wants to be off that list.
The minister said the action had further undermined in serious terms the re-branding Nigeria challenges.
He said it was in the interest of the two countries that the cordial relations remained intact.