A SOUTHEAST ROADTRIP - UNDER DEVELOPED AND UNDER

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