President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao and Umara Yar'Adua of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The two nations have increased their economic cooperation.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
CLINTON: NIGERIA FAILING TO CURB EXTREMISM
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Nigeria on
Tuesday for corruption and poor living standards that she said
encourage the sort of extremism typified by the attempted bombing
of an American airliner.
Speaking at a town hall meeting of State Department employees,
Clinton said the Nigerian government has failed for years to deal
with the legitimate needs of its people. She said that has
contributed to a growing sense of alienation, particularly among
the young who are then more susceptible to extremist ideologies.
"The failure of the Nigerian leadership over many years to
respond to the legitimate needs of their own young people, to have
a government that promoted a meritocracy, that really understood
that democracy can't just be given lip service, it has to be
delivering services to the people, has meant there is a lot of
alienation in that country and others," she said.
"There has to be a recognition that in the last 10 years a lot
of the indicators about quality of life in Nigeria have gone in the
wrong direction," Clinton said. She said illiteracy was growing,
health standards were falling and described corruption in the
country as "unbelievable."
She said those conditions meant that "Nigeria faces a threat
from increasing radicalization" by providing "an opening for
extremism that offers an alternative world view" as shown by the
young Nigerian man -Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - who allegedly tried
to blow up the Detroit-bound Delta Airlines flight on Christmas
Day.
Abdulmutallab, son of a prominent Nigerian banker, did not grow
up in poverty, but Clinton noted that he identified with the kind
of ideology often fueled by poverty.
"The young people in the world today, they see other options,"
she said. "They are all interconnected through the Internet and the
information we have on the Christmas Day bomber so far seems to
suggest that he was disturbed by his father's wealth and kind of
living conditions that he viewed as being not Islamic."
No comments:
Post a Comment