MAY 11 NIGERIA AVIAN FLU UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001097

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

USDA FOR FAS/OA, FAS/DLP, FAS/ICD AND FAS/ITP
USDA FOR APHIS
USDA FOR WAYNE MOLSTAD/OSEC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO KFLU EAID AMED EAGR NI AVIANFLU
SUBJECT: MAY 11 NIGERIA AVIAN FLU UPDATE

REF: ABUJA 1025


1. (SBU) Summary. Economic officer attended on May 9 the UN
and foreign donors meeting on AI in Nigeria. UN and foreign
officials expressed serious concern over the GON's inaction
and evident desire to declare the AI outbreak "solved." The
GON has moved the Avian Influenza Crisis Management Center
from the presidential villa to a residential neighborhood,
signaling AI's declining importance to the government. UN
and DIFD officials said the GON's faltering momentum against
AI likely has reached the point that they must take their
concerns to President Obasanjo. Nigeria's health minister
is out of Nigeria almost all of May. The UN agencies and
foreign donors continue to seek a meeting with Nigeria's
ministers of agriculture, health, and information. End
summary.


2. (SBU) Economic officer attended on May 9 the UN and
foreign donors meeting on the avian influenza (AI) in
Nigeria. UN and foreign officials, citing Government of
Nigeria (GON) statements, reported little change in the AI
situation in Nigeria, but expressed serious concern over the
GON's inaction and evident desire to declare the AI outbreak
"solved."

Nigeria wants the problem to go away
--------------


3. (SBU) UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
officials said Nigeria's last reported outbreak of AI
occurred on April 20 in Bauchi State. The FAO has finished
the final draft version of its plan on active surveillance
for review by Nigeria's minister of agriculture. The
Nigerian public now considers AI to be no big deal in their
country, and the perception is that the AI situation is
nearly back to normal. Some officials share this view.
Though Nigerian ministers dealing with the problem
understand it is not solved, they appear to lack up-to-date
information from the field. The GON is considering adopting
the requirement that poultry farms be registered, in an
effort to combat AI.


4. (SBU) A UN communications official said many Nigerians
believe AI is a "white man's disease" or was brought to
Nigeria by the West. The perception within Nigeria is that
the United Nations is seeking to "impose" the issue of AI,
but the virus has nearly "no importance" in almost every
state, with no states reacting to it. Any action taken is
only federal-to-state action, so AI must be placed on the
states' policy agenda. Anti-AI efforts in Nigeria are
failing partially because the system for reporting the virus
is not linked to local traditional institutions, including
religious leaders.


5. (SBU) A Department for International Development (DFID)
official said concern remains high over Nigeria's inadequate
human and animal AI surveillance. Donors could not respond
appropriately until proper surveillance permits an accurate
assessment.


6. (SBU) The GON announced May 9 that the Avian Influenza
Crisis Management Center (AICMC) was being moved from the
presidential villa banquet hall to an office in a
residential neighborhood. GON AI meetings will be held
there starting May 12. (Comment: While the AICMC's
location in the presidential villa was at times
inconvenient, moving the center from the banquet hall can be
interpreted as Nigeria's downgrading AI's importance as an
issue. End comment.)


7. (SBU) UN and DIFD officials said the GON's faltering
momentum against AI likely has reached the point that they
must take their concerns to President Obasanjo. They would
note, as a justification, the extended absence from Nigeria
of the health minister, who chairs the inter-ministerial AI
Steering Committee and this week visited the Centers for
Disease Control in Atlanta. The health minister, however,
also must contend with polio's advance in Nigeria, the
Global Fund's recent cancellation of USD 81 million in HIV
grants to Nigeria, and his own extensive travel outside
Nigeria almost all of May.

U.S. Mission Nigeria's Planned Actions
--------------


8. (SBU) The economic counselor likely will meet next week
with the FAO country representative concerning Nigeria's
inaction against AI. The UN agencies and foreign donors
have sought for more than three weeks a joint meeting with
Nigeria's ministers of agriculture, health, and information,
and they continue to pursue this, pending the health
minister's return.
CAMPBELL