Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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06ABUJA2777 | 2006-10-19 09:16:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Embassy Abuja |
1. (SBU) Summary. The Government of Nigeria's (GON) response to an avian influenza (AI) outbreak remains sluggish. A World Health Organization (WHO) official said Nigeria's AI animal-surveillance program already had fallen one month behind an optimistic schedule. He said the GON's sense of urgency on AI was "really going down" and that the GON's ability to absorb assistance was overtaxed. A UK official observed that large poultry farmers have convinced the GON to pursue less vigorous and less stringent programs to protect against an avian flu outbreak. Moreover, he said it is unclear what socioeconomic damage has already taken place because of Nigeria's failure to document cases, and that international donors would not succeed in pushing the GON to do more against the virus until government officials provided more information. A UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said that since late August, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) had decontaminated 26 poultry farms in Lagos State. End Summary. GON's Response to AI Slows -------------------------- 2. (SBU) The GON's response to AI remains sluggish. Economic officer attended the October 4 United Nations/foreign donors AI meeting in Abuja, and met with representatives from the WHO, UK and FAO. Mohammed Belhocine, WHO Representative in Nigeria, commented that the country's national AI animal-surveillance program launched on September 21 already had fallen one month behind an optimistic schedule. He cited the Muslim Ramadan holiday and other reasons for the delay. Belhocine said the GON's sense of urgency was "really going down" even though the issue was becoming "more complex and threatening." He also noted that the GON's ability to absorb assistance was overtaxed. Belhocine, who previously had advocated higher-level intervention on the issue by foreign donors and by the GON itself, cautioned that donors must not push the GON too hard "because it must be on board" any AI strategy if that response were to succeed. 3. (SBU) Peter Hawkins, UK Department for International Development (DFID) Officer, observed that large poultry farmers have succeeded in causing the GON to pursue less vigorous and less alarming programs against the avian flu. In addition, he said because the socioeconomic damage that AI already had done in Nigeria remained undocumented, international donors would not succeed in pushing the GON to do more against the virus until this information became known. Hawkins suggested that AI-related donations for the UN organization were necessary to increase the UN's operational role at the federal and state levels in Nigeria. 4. (U) WHO official Lola Sadiq said the less-pathogenic H3N1 human influenza virus had possibly been identified in a person in Kano city, by using a less-conclusive type of antibody test. International health officials are concerned that the presence of both the H3N1 and H5N1 viruses in Nigeria could potentially lead to a recombination of the two, resulting in a highly dangerous human flu strain. 5. (U) Tim Obi, FAO Nigeria AI Task Force Chief, told the meeting that since late August, the MOA had decontaminated 26 poultry farms in Lagos State. He said the MOA had used World Bank funds to commission private veterinarians in Lagos State to carry out disease surveillance. New Policy on Compensation to Poultry Owners Pending -------------------------- -------------------------- 6. (U) Donor agencies are reviewing the GON's proposed integrated national response plan covering the Ministries of Agriculture and Health. The plan appears to contain inconsistencies concerning the GON's proposed amount of compensation to be paid to poultry farmers. World Bank official Simon Ehui said Nigeria planned to pay different levels of compensation for different types of birds, rather than the government's former figure of 250 naira (nearly $2.00) per bird. 7. (SBU) On October 4 the GON held an AI Technical Committee ABUJA 00002777 002.2 OF 002 (working level) meeting at which little new information was presented and at which the MOA was poorly represented. The GON scheduled a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee for October 5, but this later was canceled. Comment -------------------------- 8. (SBU) Although the FAO's schedule for its national AI animal-surveillance program admittedly was optimistic, it is disappointing that this program already is one month behind schedule. Nigeria's commercial poultry sector, which is well-connected politically, so far appears to have weathered the worst effects of an AI outbreak, despite the GON's failure to take strong preventive measures against the virus. Moreover, the fact that the dire predictions regarding an AI outbreak have not occurred, has led to decrease GON vigilance. FUREY |