NIGERIA CANNOT DETECT H5N1 AVIAN FLU

UNCLAS LAGOS 001863

SIPDIS

PASS HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER/BHAT
CDC FOR BLOUNT/JANI/LEDUC/NCOX/ARTHUR
GENEVA FOR WHO
USDA/APHIS/US/NCIE FOR BURLESON
USDA/FSIS FOR RHARRIES
USDA/FAS/CMP/DLP FOR M FRANCOM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO SENV EAGR AMED CASC EAID XX NI WHO FAO
SUBJECT: NIGERIA CANNOT DETECT H5N1 AVIAN FLU

REF: A. STATE 216147 B. ABUJA 2234


1. Summary. AgAttache met with the acting director of
Nigeria's Department of Agriculture and Pest Control
Services to discuss the GON's plan for contending with an
outbreak of AI. Senior GON policymakers are keenly aware
that an AI outbreak would very likely destroy Nigeria's
poultry industry, given the country's absence of basic
safeguard systems in most poultry operations across Nigeria.
Nigeria has no national facility that can either detect or
diagnose H5N1 avian influenza. End summary.


2. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) attach met with
Dr. Junaidu A. Maina, acting director of Nigeria's
Department of Agriculture and Pest Control Services, which
is under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
in Abuja on December 1. AgAttache presented demarche (first
ref) on Nigeria's ban of poultry products allegedly in
connection with avian influenza (AI),and discussed the
ministry's role in the Government of Nigeria's (GON) plan
(second ref) for contending with an outbreak of AI. The
GON's Department of Agriculture and Pest Control Services
has primary responsibility for animal disease control and
management at Nigeria's federal level. Dr. Maina is the
GON's Chief Veterinarian Officer.


3. On October 24, 2005, the GON established a general
ministerial committee consisting of the Ministers of
Agriculture, Health, and Science and Technology; leaders of
the Nigerian House of Representatives and Senate;
representatives of the World Health Organization and the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization; and Nigeria's director
general of state security. The GON tasked the committee
with developing a national action plan to combat AI.
Subsequently, respective ministries formed technical sub-
committees of their own to draft specific recommendations
and action plans for consideration by the general committee.
In the case of the Ministry of Agriculture, its technical
committee, which consists of animal-disease experts and
other technical experts, is still in the process of drafting
specific recommendations for consideration.


4. According to Chief Veterinarian Maina, senior GON
policymakers are keenly aware that an AI outbreak would very
likely destroy Nigeria's poultry industry, given the
country's absence of basic safeguard systems in most poultry
operations across Nigeria. This is because the Ministry of
Agriculture lacks the necessary resources to establish
effective control measures against AI.


5. Maina also said that the Ministry of Agriculture
maintains 12 wetland surveillance stations throughout the
country where migratory birds are known to populate each
year. The Ministry of Agriculture sends samples from these
locations to the National Veterinary Research Institute
(NVRI) in Jos, Plateau State. The NVRI has diagnostic
facilities that can detect the presence of AI. That
laboratory, however, has no facility that can characterize
technically the disease by its various strains -- for
example, low pathogenic or highly pathogenic. Nigeria thus
currently has no national facility that can either detect or
diagnose H5N1 avian influenza.


6. Despite its membership in and commitments to the World
Trade Organization, Nigeria banned in July 2002 the import
of poultry products to protect its growing poultry industry.
The GON then in June 2004 banned the import of eggs and day-
old chicks under the guise of fears associated with AI.
Some poultry imports, albeit in small quantities, continue
to be smuggled into Nigeria through its border towns.


7. Post will continue to pursue the GON for the removal of
import restrictions on poultry and other products, and
monitor and report on the government's capability to respond
to an outbreak of AI.

Browne