NIGERIA: BAYELSA GOVERNOR CALLS GGESS EXCELLENT

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EPET NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: BAYELSA GOVERNOR CALLS GGESS EXCELLENT
FORUM FOR DELTA DIALOGUE

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Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)


1. (C) Summary: Bayelsa Governor Timipre told Acting Consul
General June 17 that he sees the Gulf of Guinea Energy
Security Strategy (GGESS) meetings as an excellent forum in
which to discuss the Niger Delta; he wants to open dialogue
between Bayelsa State and the United States as well. Silva
has plans to boost Bayelsa's electric power generation
capacity to 110 megawatts by 2009, to upgrade transmission
and distribution systems owned by the State, to establish
fish farms based on an Asian model, to purchase an air
ambulance to service isolated riverine communities, to
provide potable water, and to complete road construction
currently underway. In addition, Shell has asked to install a
gas gathering facility near Yenagoa. Having won the
re-election ordered by the tribunal, Silva, with his
preference for a bottom-up approach to a potential summit,
and apparently realistic ideas for infrastructure
development, delivery of government services and job
creation, appears poised to take a leadership role in
resolution of the Niger Delta's problems. In a subsequent
conversation with the Ambassador on June 20, the Bayelsa
Governor lamented the controversy over the niger Delta
Summit, noting that he thought it was doomed to failure as
consultation with stakeholders had not taken place. He very
much sees the GGESS as at least one of the mechanisms that
could be used to address development issues. End Summary.

Silva: GGESS Good Forum; Wants Bayelsa-U.S. Dialogue
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2. (C) On June 17, Timipre Silva, Governor of Bayelsa State,
called on Acting Consul General at the Consulate. Referring
to the proposed Niger Delta Summit, Governor Silva said he
did not think the summit, even if it takes place, will amount
to much; he had tried to tell Vice President Jonathan as
much, but he has not listened, Silva said. The process has
been too top down; what is needed is a bottom up approach so
that people at the grass roots have the opportunity to say
what they want out of the process. (Ambassador Ibrahim)
Gambari is not the right person to head up the summit; Ken
Saro-Wiwa was not a criminal, and Gambari's remark calling
him one simply pits him against the people of the Niger
Delta, Silva said. According to the Governor, a key element
of a solution to the Niger Delta problem will be for the
Federal Government to make a commitment to give the states
more than the current 13 percent derivation. The GGESS
meetings provide an excellent forum for real dialogue on
issues, he said. The Governor hopes for more dialogue
between his state and the United States.


3. (C) Silva is offended by the CNN portrayal of "everyone in
the creeks as a freedom fighter, and the states as
kleptocracies". In the Governor's view, fully 60 percent of
all activity by so-called "militants" is purely criminal.
Work on the dualization of the east-west road linking
Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, with Port Harcourt was
recently stopped because of "militant" activity; how can
anyone say they want development and then disrupt
construction of that road, he asked rhetorically. Under
Yar'Adua, the military has been quite restrained; recent
raids in Edo and Bayelsa States were not on villages, but
rather on camps where groups had amassed arms (Septel).

States Best Able to Drive Niger Delta Development
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4. (C) The states are the government entities best able to
drive development in the Niger Delta, Silva told Acting CG.
Silva has plans to turn 27 kilometers of a flowing river in
Bayelsa State into a series of fish farms, based on a model
he saw in an Asian country. The river's natural flow will
help avoid the pollution sometimes resulting from fish

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farming, keep the fish healthy and provide some natural food.
The Governor also wants to explore the purchase of air
ambulances to help get persons in remote locations out of the
creeks and into a hospital when necessary. Fully 50 percent
of all Bayelsa's natural gas goes by pipeline to Nigeria
Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) at Bonny in Rivers State, Silva
said. The State is in discussions with Shell, which wants to
install a gas gathering facility near Yenagoa. A small gas
turbine plant producing less than 30 megawatts provides
electricity to Yenagoa and the surrounding villages. Bayelsa
owns its own transmission and distribution network, but the
equipment needs upgrading. The Governor has purchased a 60
megawatt turbine from Russia, and anticipates the
installation of a 20 megawatt turbine in the northern part of
the state; together, they will bring total generating
capacity in the State to 110 megawatts by 2009. Construction
of three major roads, one to each of the State's three
Senatorial districts, is underway. Off of each of these major
roads, the government is constructing smaller feeder roads.
Water in the state is increasingly polluted by oil from
spills and vandalization, and the Governor is interested in
ways to provide potable water to his people.


5. (C) Comment: Unlike Delta State Governor Uduaghan, who is
still waiting for the courts to rule on his opponent's appeal
of the election tribunal decision striking a challenge to his
election, and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who was
never elected but installed as Governor by the 2007 decision
of the Supreme Court, Governor Silva emerged victorious from
the tribunal-ordered re-run of his election in May. The
Governor's bottom-up approach to plans for a summit, his
plans to deliver basic services and improved infrastructure
to support development, and his apparently realistic plans
for job creation could make a welcome contribution to
resolving the problems of the Niger Delta. Despite Silva's
optimism about the GGESS, it remains to be seen whether that
forum will evolve into anything beyond an opportunity for
grandstanding by Governor-participants.

BLAIR