SANs Edu. a member of SANs Technology Institute, based in the United States of America has apologised for listing Nigeria as a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
SANs Edu. had denied a Nigerian seeking admission into the institute on the ground that the United States Department of State had listed Nigeria as a sponsor of terrorism.
The institute made the apology when an ICIR reporter called them out on Twitter, demanding that they retract their statement following a Fact Check in June that proved that Nigeria was never listed by the US as sponsoring terrorism.
“We sincerely apologize for the offense caused by the miscommunication to this applicant, which does not reflect our beliefs. We’ve been in direct contact with the student and are reviewing our processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” SANs Edu said in a response to The ICIR reporter’s tweet.
Nigerians on social media had reacted to a screenshot of the mail sent to the applicant whose name was protected in which the reason he was denied admission into the institute was because Nigeria is listed as a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the United States Department of State.
“Thank you for your interest and enquiry. We appreciate that you highlighted that your education and background is from Nigeria.”
“Unfortunately, this does, in fact, impact our ability to accept you into our programs. As a longstanding matter of policy, the SANS Technology of Institute does not accept students from a number of countries where the governmental regime is a cause for international concern,” the email to the applicant read.
The email then added in the case of the enquirer, the U.S. currently lists their country of citizenship (Nigeria) as a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
“Because of this designation, we must decline your inquiry to pursue a higher education degree program with the SANS Technology Institute,” the email concluded.
According to the US Department of State, state sponsors of terrorism are countries that have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. Inclusion on the list imposes strict unilateral sanctions.
But SANS Edu. in the response sent to the applicant included a link, which only showed four countries on the list: Syria (designated in 1979), Sudan (designated in 1993), Iran (designated in 1984), and North Korea (designated in 2017).”
Nigeria is not among the countries on the list.
Cuba was enlisted in 1982 and later removed in 2015; Iraq was added in 1979 and removed in 2004; Libya was added in 1979 and was removed in 2006; finally, former South Yemen was likewise part of the list in 1979 and dropped in 1990.
Also, a Fact Check by Humangle, a Nigerian based media platform in June, 2020 had stated that Nigeria is neither currently listed as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. nor has it ever been.
Olayinka works with The ICIR as the Social Media Manager, Reporter and Fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via shehuolayinka@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @BelloYinka72