Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ABUJA1768
2009-09-24 18:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:  

NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

Tags:  PGOV PREL EAID SENV KTIP KPAO NI 
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DE RUEHUJA #1768/01 2671810
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241810Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7092
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 2090
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PRIORITY 1042
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 2008
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001768 

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, INR/AA, ECA;
STATE PLEASE ALSO PASS TO USAID/AFR/WA (D. ALZOUMA)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SENV KTIP KPAO NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001768

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, INR/AA, ECA;
STATE PLEASE ALSO PASS TO USAID/AFR/WA (D. ALZOUMA)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SENV KTIP KPAO NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- SEPTEMBER 24, 2009


1. (U) Mission Nigeria provides the following compilation of
recent political, economic, and social developments not
reported previously.

--------------
DUTCH DELIVER DIGITAL EVIDENCE TRAINING
--------------


2. (U) Law enforcement and legal experts from the Netherlands
trained Nigerian police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and
jurists in collecting, authenticating, and using digital
evidence in court under a Dutch-Nigerian cooperative
agreement on identifying trafficked victims and prosecuting
criminals. The National Agency for the Prevention of
Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) had organized the class to
support the need for improved evidence techniques. While
Nigerian law does not currently allow use of digital
information (photographs, electronic-mail messages, on-line
bank statements, and so forth) as evidence in courts, Justice
Minister and Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa pledged at
the opening ceremony to reform evidence rules on digital
materials to meet changes in the global economy. Aondoakaa
said he would seek help from western countries, including the
U.S., to support additional training of Nigerian Police
Forces. Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria A. C Van der Wiel
reported that Dutch police had recently published a book on
"419 scams" (fraud) in Nigeria to be translated into English
and shared with Nigerian police.

-------------- -
USAID AGRICULTURE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM DRAFT
-------------- -


3. (U) On September 21, U.S. Agency for International
Development USAID - Nigeria submitted a draft implementation
plan for a 34.25-million dollar Agriculture Transformation
Program (ATP) using fiscal-year 2010 Food Security, trade,
child survival, and PEPFAR funding. The ATP implementation
plan, encompassing the next phase of the inter-agency Global
Food Security Response Program, seeks to increase
agriculture-sector growth, leading to higher incomes,
improved nutrition, and reduced hunger and poverty for one
million Nigerians living below the poverty line. The project
will seek to improve the well-being of ten million Nigerians

over four years under a significantly expanded program
supporting Nigeria's Comprehensive African Agriculture
Development Program. During ATP implementation, USAID will
collaborate with GON agricultural development programs and
development partners, including the World Bank, African
Development Bank, U.K. Department for International
Development (DFID),and Canadian International Development
Agency.

--------------
AFRICA AGRICULTURE DONORS
--------------


4. (U) USAID re-convened (and will initially lead) the
Agriculture Donors Working Group (ADWG) to discuss major
agricultural policies and issues with GON leaders, coordinate
donor support for implementing the Comprehensive African
Agriculture Development Program, and improve overall
coordination. Other ADWG participants include the World
Qcoordination. Other ADWG participants include the World
Bank, African Development Bank, and DFID. The Food and
Agriculture Organization has agreed to join the group, which
will also invite others, including Canadian and Japanese
development agencies.

--------------
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL
--------------


5. (U) Over 60 Muslim groups and leaders pledged support for
Nigeria's Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, in an
unprecedented show of support by an Islamic constituency for
FOI reform. With USAID help under a Pact grant, the Muslim
League for Accountability (MULAC) (a national network of

ABUJA 00001768 002 OF 003


Islamic organizations that champions transparency and
accountability) conducted a workshop September 9 to 10 in
Abuja to sensitize civil society representatives in Nigeria's
Islamic North on the bill's importance and to garner support.
Participants included groups involving youth, women, and
persons with disabilities from several northern states. The
National Television Authority (NTA) and Kaduna's private TV
station DITV provided coverage in English and Hausa.
Prospects for this FOI bill, which the National Assembly
approved in March, but then President Obasanjo did not sign,
should improve with this support from northern civil society
organizations.

--------------
VIRGIN NIGERIA RE-BRANDS AS NIGERIAN EAGLE
--------------


6. (U) Virgin Nigeria Airlines (VNA) Managing Director
Captain Dapo Olumide announced September 17 that his company
would immediately operate under the name Nigerian Eagle
Airlines. He revealed the new name and logo at a press
conference in Lagos at which he outlined plans to raise funds
through private placements in capital markets. When VNA
began in 2004, the UK's Virgin Atlantic Limited held 49
percent of the shares and Nigerian institutional investors
the remaining 51 percent. Virgin Nigeria subsequently ran up
a commercial debt of 228 million dollars and unpaid royalties
of 11 million dollars. In June, Virgin Atlantic announced
divestment of shares in Virgin Nigeria, ordering the airline
to stop using the Virgin brand.
-------------- -
SUB-NATIONAL BONDS SET NIGERIA APART IN AFRICA
-------------- -


7. (U) The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission
(ICRC) and the World Bank held a financial sector roundtable
September 18 to discuss "The Financial Appetite for Public
Private Partnership (PPP) Infrastructure Financing in the
Wake of Global Recession." The World Bank's Peter Mousley
said the successful issuance of sub-national bonds for
infrastructure development sets Nigeria apart from other
African countries. He commended Lagos, Kwara, and Imo states
for packaging attractive fixed rate bonds that hedged against
economic and political risks. Mousley claimed that borrowing
through bonds provided a savings of four to seven percent for
states over borrowing from commercial banks. He predicted
external debts and equity would remain the primary sources
for PPP infrastructure financing in the near term. He urged
governments, however, to create Viability Gap Funds as a
cushion for PPP investors.

--------------
PRISTINE WATER FROM SOLAR-POWERED WATER PUMP
--------------


8. (U) Water flowed for the first time September 17 from a
solar-powered, 900-foot well in Kaima, Bayelsa State. The
Niger Delta Wetlands Center (NDWC),an NGO dedicated to
pioneering sustainable development through renewable energy
technology, won one of 25 Niger Delta Development Corporation
Qtechnology, won one of 25 Niger Delta Development Corporation
(NDDC) contracts to provide drinking water from solar-powered
pumps. NDWC personnel dug their well to a depth of 900 feet
to access pristine, drinking-quality water -- unlike most
wells in the Niger Delta dug to less than 100 feet and
yielding only brackish, often contaminated, water. Given
that the well and its associated 20,000-liter storage tank
met at most ten percent of the community's water needs, NDWC
Executive Director Miriam Forbes Isoun asked inhabitants to
reserve the new well for drinking water while using existing,
shallow wells for other uses. Isoun claimed that, due to
inexperience, none of the other contractors engaged by NDDC
to build solar-power wells had yet to meet with success.

--------------
ASSISTANCE REQUESTED BY OIL SPILL AGENCY
--------------


ABUJA 00001768 003 OF 003



9. (SBU) During a September 15 meeting with the Nigerian Oil
Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA),visiting State
Department Nigeria Deputy Desk Officer, Economic Associate,
and Economic Specialist inquired about the agency's mandates
and vision. NOSDRA Director General and Chief Executive
Officer B. A. Ajakaiye described his agency as a young
para-statal under the Environment Ministry with
responsibility to monitor, detect, and respond to oil spills.
Praising past U.S. capacity-building help through the
Science Fellow program, Ajakaiye requested additional
assistance to strengthen the agency's early warning and
emergency preparedness capabilities. After 50 years of oil
exploitation and neglect, he noted that the Delta region
suffered from extensive oil pollution that severely affected
the region's inhabitants. He said NOSDRA, as a new
organization (established in 2006),lacked capacity to
address these challenges. The Mission, which provided
technical training for agency staff through the Science
Fellow Program in early 2009, is arranging a Voluntary
Visitors' program for NOSDRA management and National Assembly
members with oversight responsibilities to acquaint them with
a comprehensive early warning and crisis management system to
manage oil spills and hazardous waste.

--------------
NIGERIAN POSITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
--------------


10. (SBU) During a September 18 visit to the Environment
Ministry's Climate Change Unit, visiting State Department
Nigeria Deputy Desk Officer, Economic Associate, and Economic
Specialist inquired about Nigeria's response to climate
change and its preparations for the December 2009 Copenhagen
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC). Unit Head Victor Fodeke said Nigeria's position
would coincide with Africa's position towards climate change,
which calls upon developed countries to provide significant
financial and technical help to developing countries to
mitigate and adapt to climate change. Asserting that
developing countries were not responsible for the effects of
climate change, but remained the most vulnerable to its
impact, Fodeke expressed interest in acquiring clean energy
technology from the developed world, especially to address
gas flaring. Pointing out Nigeria's potential for clean
development projects, he mentioned interest by countries such
as China, India, and Israel in supporting clean development
initiatives in Nigeria. He requested U.S. technical
assistance in conducting a feasibility study to assess
opportunities for deploying clean development technologies in
Nigeria as well as U.S. support for Africa's position at the
upcoming UNFCCC summit.


11. (U) Embassy and Consulate General Lagos collaborated on
this telegram.
SANDERS