Manila: A week after it recommended a ban on Filipinos working in Nigeria be lifted, the Department of Foreign Affairs now wants the restriction reinstated.

The change in sentiment came after renewed violence in the West African country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has requested the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) to hold in abeyance its recommendation for the lifting of the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria.

Recent bombings

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said the recent bombings in the northern part of Africa's most populous country would put the lives of Filipinos leaving to work in that country in danger.

Del Rosario had requested Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz for a 90-day deferment of the lifting of the deployment ban. The move came after Al Qaida-linked extremists set off bombs in several churches there on Christmas Day, killing as many as 40 people.

"We are requesting the DOLE to put on hold our own recommendation for the lifting of the deployment ban in view of the present situation in Nigeria," Del Rosario said in a statement.

The request for the deferment came a week after the DFA recommended the lifting of the deployment ban in Nigeria effective 1 January 2012, due to the improved security situation in the Niger Delta. The request came too early to take into account the Christmas Day bombings.

"The Philippines is convinced that the security situation in Nigeria will soon improve to allow us to again send Filipino workers there," Del Rosario said.

In earlier recommending the lifting of the deployment ban to Secretary Baldoz, Secretary Del Rosario said the DFA has reviewed the overall security situation in Nigeria and has concluded that the insurgency in the Niger Delta has been properly addressed.

"No more kidnapping incidents have occurred and Nigeria has become a vibrant democracy with a thriving economy. According to our ambassador in Nigeria, Nestor Padalhin, 5,000 jobs in the oil, gas and construction industries are awaiting our OFWs in Nigeria," he added.

The Philippines imposed a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria in reaction to the series of kidnapping of Filipino seafarers in the Niger Delta from 2006 to 2009.

Based on DFA estimates, there are 7,240 Filipinos in Nigeria, mostly professionals and Filipino nationals married to Nigerians.