The United States of America’s Department of State has warned its citizens against travelling to Nigeria “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping and piracy”.

According to a CNN, the State Department said it has labelled high-threat countries with a ‘K’, so as to communicate more clearly to US citizens the risks of kidnapping and hostage-taking by criminal and terrorist actors around the world.

In a post on its website during the week, the State Department said apart from kidnapping, its citizens planning to visit Nigeria should also be wary of armed robbery, rape, carjacking civil unrest, terrorism and indiscriminate violence.

It also issued a level 4 travel alert for Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states due to terrorism, saying they should not travel to the three states. It pointed out that the security situation in the North-East was fluid and unpredictable, particularly in the three states.

The post read: “Reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping and piracy. Some areas have increased risk.

“Do not travel to Borno and Yobe states and northern Adamawa State due to terrorism.

“Violent crimes such as armed robbery, assault, carjacking, kidnapping and rape are common throughout the country. Exercise extreme caution throughout the country due to the threat of indiscriminate violence.”