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LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria described on Monday as unfair its inclusion alongside Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen on a list of countries whose air travellers will face tighter screening on journeys to the United States.

The procedures, which take effect on Monday, follow the botched Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound U.S. airline blamed on Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who U.S. officials believe was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen.

Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili -- who has been spearheading a "rebranding Nigeria" campaign since last year meant to shed the country's reputation for corruption -- said Abdulmutallab's act was a "one-off" and that it was unfair to punish the rest of the nation as a result.

The U.S. list includes passengers travelling from or through nations listed as "state sponsors of terrorism" -- Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria -- as well as Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

"Abdulmutallab's behaviour is not reflective of Nigeria and should therefore not be used as a yardstick to judge all Nigerians. It is unfair to discriminate against over 150 million people because of the behaviour of one person," Akunyili said.

"He was not influenced in Nigeria, he was not recruited or trained in Nigeria, he was not supported whatsoever in Nigeria," she told Reuters by telephone.

Abdulmutallab, 23, has been charged with trying to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam on December 25 with almost 300 people on board. He transferred to that flight from a KLM flight from Lagos.

The son of a well-respected banker from northern Nigeria, he was educated at a boarding school in Togo before studying engineering at University College, London and doing a masters degree in Dubai. He also took study trips to Yemen.