Nigerian Anger at the U.S. Grows After Failed Bomb Attempt, Inclusion on Air-Travel Watch List Spurs an Oil Backlash By WILL CONNORS

The Wall Street Journal

* JANUARY 13, 2010

Nigerian Anger at the U.S. Grows
After Failed Bomb Attempt, Inclusion on Air-Travel Watch List Spurs an Oil Backlash
By WILL CONNORS

ABUJA, Nigeria -- The alleged attempt by a Nigerian man to detonate a bomb on a U.S.-bound flight has frayed Nigeria's diplomatic ties with its No. 1 buyer of oil: the U.S.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe said the country doesn't want to alienate its "traditional partners," but when the U.S. Transportation Security Administration recently included Nigeria among 14 countries of interest -- an effective security watch list -- officials and politicians in the West African nation were incensed. "The goodwill America enjoys here is tremendous," Mr. Maduekwe said in an interview. "Was there no way of dealing with security concerns without putting that goodwill in jeopardy?"

The move, which followed Nigerian Umar Farouk Adulmutallab's alleged attempt to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day, means that Nigerians traveling to the U.S. will face increased security screenings upon arrival. Mr. Abdulmutallab has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Nigeria is the fifth-largest exporter of oil to the U.S. But Nigerian officials lately have said Washington's moves risk pushing the West African nation closer to China and Iran.

The diplomatic sparks have added to tensions in Nigeria, where there is an active antigovernment militancy and mounting dissatisfaction with the long absence of an ill president. On Tuesday, hundreds of Nigerians protested President Umaru Yar'Adua's prolonged convalescence in Saudi Arabia for a heart condition.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute met with Mr. Maduekwe and several other Nigerian officials. The U.S. Embassy in Nigeria and the State Department in Washington declined to comment on the meetings and possible frictions between the two countries.

"I think people are making more of it than it is," one Western diplomatic official said. "It's just people posturing."

China, Iran and India have been courting oil and infrastructure deals with Nigeria.

China has expressed interest in a number of oil assets controlled by Western companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., just as the Western companies are considering scaling down their Nigeria operations due to militant violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

On Tuesday, four expatriate oil workers contracted by Royal Dutch Shell PLC were kidnapped while driving to work by unknown attackers in Port Harcourt, the largest city in the Niger Delta. A pipeline operated by Chevron was attacked last week, forcing the company to cut oil production by 20,000 barrels a day.

Meanwhile, China's biggest energy companies are eager to tap the country. China National Petroleum Corp. is a possible buyer of several assets, officials say. Iran and Nigeria signed an agreement in 2008 to share nuclear technology for power generation.

Taminu Yakubu, President Yar'Adua's economic adviser, played down the potential damage to business due to diplomatic trouble. But he added: "It is not good to put unnecessary pressure on a friend who has always cooperated, been helpful and helped America with international responsibility."
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A9

Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved