US travel advisory for Nigeria is “unnecessarily alarming – ex-minister

The former official brushes off a warning from the US embassy regarding security issues in the nation of West Africa.

Nigeria’s former minister of communications has accused the US administration of inciting unjustified fear by encouraging citizens not to travel to the West African country for non-essential purposes.

Adebayo Shittu called the warning a “unnecessary alarm against the Nigerian state” in an interview with RT on Thursday.

In response, Shittu responded to a statement sent by the US Embassy in Abuja on November 3. The statement mentioned “credible information that there is an elevated threat to major hotels in Nigeria’s larger cities.” The State Department’s travel advisory, which was last revised in September, advised visitors to “reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed gangs.” This was followed by this.

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The former minister charged that Washington was engaged in “a purposeful effort to destroy the potential growth” of the African nation by instilling dread in the hearts of prospective foreign investors, claiming that the US had a higher crime rate than Nigeria.

Speaking on Monday, Mohammad Idris, Nigeria’s minister of information and national orientation, asserted that the US travel advisories are hurting the country’s economy.

“We have observed that these advisories lead to unnecessary anxiety and can seriously harm the economy, not to mention that they impede the government’s attempts to draw in investment,” Idris told reporters.

Because of the possibility of terrorism, the United States increased its alert level for Nigeria last year and advised against visiting many states.