Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04ABUJA1288
2004-07-23 12:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:  

A SOUTHEAST ROADTRIP - UNDER DEVELOPED AND UNDER

Tags:  PREL PGOV ASEC NI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001288 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC NI
SUBJECT: A SOUTHEAST ROADTRIP - UNDER DEVELOPED AND UNDER
SIEGE

REF: A. LAGOS 1469

B. 2003 ABUJA 1560

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN CAMPBELL. REASONS 1.5 (B & D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001288

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC NI
SUBJECT: A SOUTHEAST ROADTRIP - UNDER DEVELOPED AND UNDER
SIEGE

REF: A. LAGOS 1469

B. 2003 ABUJA 1560

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN CAMPBELL. REASONS 1.5 (B & D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: PolOff recently embarked on an eight day
roadtrip through the southeast (and a little of the
south-south) region of Nigeria. During the trip, PolOff
visited about 20 self-help projects and encountered varying
degrees of success on the projects. The most striking part
of the trip, however, was the widespread sense of fatigue and
helplessness exhibited by virtually every contact, from
roadside vendors to governors, and the lack of infrastructure
throughout most of the region. PolOff visited Kogi, Enugu,
Imo, Abia, Anambra, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states during the
trip. END SUMMARY.

THE HIGHWAYS
--------------


2. (C) PolOff recently embarked on a roadtrip through the
southeast and south-south regions of Nigeria to visit about
20 self-help projects. While some of the roads in the area
were in passable shape, most of them were in a terrible state
of repair. Travelling 100 kilometers routinely took two and
sometimes three hours. In many cases the primary roads were
the most hazardous. For example, the dual carriageway
between Enugu and Umuahia overall was in good repair and
travel was easy at about 65 miles per hour. However,
randomly dispersed along the good road were sections that
required extreme caution. Without any warning, around
corners or over hills, the comfortable traveller would
immediately be confronted with a washout and have to slow to
15 miles per hour or less to transit the collapsed roadway.
The hulks of autos and buses, mostly recent vintage but some
relatively antique, were evident throughout, testimony to the
danger of driving complacently in Nigeria. Erosion was a
common problem on the highways as well as the byways. And in
Onitsha, a major city in Anambra state, one pothole remains
that has its own entrance and exit ramps and space for a
60-seat bus at the bottom.


3. (C) During the trip, Poloff encountered an estimated
2,000 police and soldiers at roadblocks on the highways.
Without fail, as the Embassy vehicle with its easily
recognizable diplomatic plates approached, a scramble ensued

to move waiting vehicles from the checkpoint and ensure quick
passage for the Embassy. Far from altruism, the motivating
factor seemed to be preventing PolOff from observing money
changing hands. In spite of these efforts, at about 90
percent of the roadblocks, PolOff observed police and
soldiers accepting cash from hapless travelers. At the
remaining ten percent of roadblocks, vehicles had usually
been pulled over to the side, where any transaction between
police and driver could go unobserved.

THE BYWAYS
--------------


4. (C) Off the highway, the situation was little improved.
While no security agents were present through most of the
trip, the roads were as bad or worse than the highways.
Years of neglect were evident, and electricity and potable
water were rare. In the villages, there was little evidence
of economic life: apparently most lived by subsistence
farming or by sending family members to the cities to support
the village life. What was evident, though, was the amount
of new construction (in various stages of completion) in each
community. Unfortunately, the construction projects were not
schools and clinics, or even markets or other necessary
infrastructure. Instead, the grand construction projects
appeared to be single family dwellings, if sprawling 10,000
square foot buildings could be so termed. It was obvious
that the only economic development in a community was the
construction of an edifice appropriate to elevate the owner's
status above all others. Conspicuous consumption ruled the
day, even though many of the projects appeared to have been
abandoned, probably when the owner's fortunes in the big city
waned.


5. (C) Local officials, appropriately circumspect in their
criticisms, also conveyed the sense of neglect evident in the
communities. The official overseeing one self-help project,
stalled by the washout of the ten-kilometer dirt road to the
village, pleaded with PolOff to "call someone in Abuja" to
get a bulldozer to fix the road and clear the site so
construction could begin. Another, after promoting the
community and the project, made a not-so-veiled plea to help
him exit the country. "I went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
but could not find my way to the U.S. Can you help me?" he
begged. Each local official complained of the lack of
funding from either the state or federal government. Most
complained that their governors only funded "pet projects in
their own villages" and paid little attention to the needs of
the rest of the state. In fact, the best road in Enugu State
appears to be the side road leading from the main highway to
Governor Chimaroke Nnamani's home town.
THE CAPITALS
--------------


6. (C) If the mood at the village level was bad,
conversations in the capitals did little to change PolOff's
impressions. At stops in Enugu (Enugu State),Owerri (Imo
State),Awka (Anambra State) and Umuahia (Abia State),
government officials complained that budget allotments,
announced by the federal government in Abuja, had yet to
reach the states. A governor's assistant in Owerri
complained that, the pronouncements of the Finance Minister
notwithstanding, Imo State had received less than half of the
funding due it under current revenue formulas. In Anambra
and Enugu States, officials complained of overbearing
leadership. "We can not make decisions without permission
from the Governor," claimed one in Enugu State. In Anambra
State, the same complaint was made, but with reference to the
President.


7. (C) In Abia State, Governor Kalu was much more subdued
than on previous visits. Earlier, he was anticipating a
possible confrontation with President Obasanjo and eagerly
working Vice President Atiku Abubakar for selection as his
running mate in 2007. Now, Kalu appeared almost despondent.
The long confrontation over the alleged death threats against
him by Obasanjo's lead political thug Tony Anenih and the
continued grounding of his airline (reftel A) have taken
their toll. He commented that Atiku's will to confront the
President was slipping and that he thought Atiku's bid for
the presidency was flagging. Kalu commented that he would
still be happy to fight the political battles, but "there is
no place to go and no backing for the battle." Concluding,
he dejectedly commented, "we won't last until 2007."


8. (C) The security situation in the capitals was no better
than the mood. In Umuahia, virtually the entire town was
blacked out by nine p.m. in a region where the pleasures of
gathering in the evenings over a cool drink are widely
renowned. The situation in Enugu and Owerri was similar.
During a high-speed drive through residential areas at about
ten p.m., PolOff's local driver said that he had to speed and
pointed out four locations where he had been accosted (within
the city) by armed robbers in the past few weeks. Just
before PolOff's arrival, armed robbers attacked a string of
hotels in Enugu in the middle of the afternoon, moving from
one to the next with seeming impunity on a busy market road.
A local wag commented that it was strange that all the police
roadblocks had disappeared from the road about an hour before
the attack began.


9. (C) COMMENT: The neglect of the southeast was evident
at every turn. Whether stemming from the civil war or from
more recent events such as the Ekwueme challenge to
Obasanjo's ascendancy in 1999 and 2003 (reftel B),the
citizens bear the brunt of the neglect. The people in this
once-vibrant area have been reduced to apathy and the
infrastructure reduced to rubble.
CAMPBELL