Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ABUJA1884
2009-10-16 12:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:
NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- OCTOBER 16, 2009
how-toVZCZCXRO1879 PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO DE RUEHUJA #1884/01 2891215 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 161215Z OCT 09 FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7228 INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS PRIORITY 2098 RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001884
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL, INR/AA;
USAID FOR AFR/WA (DALZOUMA)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN PHUM SNAR GV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- OCTOBER 16, 2009
REF: A. ABUJA 1036
B. ABUJA 0307
Classified By: Political Counselor James P. McAnulty
for reasons in Sections 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001884
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL, INR/AA;
USAID FOR AFR/WA (DALZOUMA)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN PHUM SNAR GV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- OCTOBER 16, 2009
REF: A. ABUJA 1036
B. ABUJA 0307
Classified By: Political Counselor James P. McAnulty
for reasons in Sections 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (U) Mission Nigeria provides the following compilation of
recent political, economic, and social developments not
previously reported.
--------------
GUINEAN PROTESTERS IN LAGOS DEMAND CIVIL RULE
--------------
2. (SBU) Members of the Guinean community in Lagos organized
a protest march October 14 to demand an end to military rule
in Guinea. Three hundred protesters marched in streets
displaying placards, chanting protest songs deriding Guinean
military leader Moussa Dadis Camara, and carrying a mock
coffin. Some placards sought the U.S. President's
intervention. The demonstrators held a protest rally in
front of the Lagos office of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS),a few blocks from Consulate Lagos'
Public Affairs section. Speakers took turns urging Nigerian
President Yar'Adua's intervention, in his capacity as ECOWAS
Chairman, to restore democratic rule immediately and curb
alleged atrocities. According to the press, protest
coordinator Muhammed Ba alleged Guinean military engagement
in serious human rights abuses, including killing over 500
Guineans who openly demanded a return to civil rule.
-------------- --------------
RIBADU'S RISKY TRIP TO NIGERIA ADDS TO HIS PROFILE
-------------- --------------
3. (C) Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Chief of Staff Dapo Olorunyomi told International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Officer about former
Chairman Nuhu Ribadu's surreptitious visit to pay his
respects to his mentor and deceased human rights activist
Gani Fawehinmi. According to Olorunyomi, against the advice
of his close confidants, Ribadu flew to a neighboring country
and drove through the porous Nigeria-Benin border unimpeded
by security agents as no watch list apparently listed his
name. After attending ceremonies at the mortuary, viewing
the corpse, and paying his respects to the late Gani's
family, Ribadu drove back immediately and exited Nigeria
safely within eight hours of entry. Olorunyomi noted that
Ribadu's fierce sense of loyalty to his former mentor and his
strong belief in fatalism drove him to undertake this
reckless act. Olorunyomi, now Enterprise Director for the
new Lagos-based business newspaper daily "NEXT," remarked
that these actions have added to Ribadu's universal popular
appeal should he, as widely speculated, run for public
office. He noted that like-minded people around him,
including former Federal Capital Territory Governor Nasir
El-Rufai, have tried to push him in that direction.
--------------
INL SCANNERS LEAD TO DRUG TRAFFICKING ARRESTS
--------------
4. (U) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
arrested Agbabiaka Lukman, a Lagos State University student,
September 30 at Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International
QSeptember 30 at Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International
Airport for testing positive for cocaine during a screening
by INL-donated body scanners while attempting to board an
Arik Airlines flight to London. The student confessed that
Adegbemisola Adedeji, a notorious recruiter of drug couriers
deported from London in May, had given him drugs to transport
to London in exchange for 2,500 British pounds. Lukman
ingested 59 cocaine wraps. Police arrested three other
suspects, Hassan Akeem Olamide, Nnoli Sebastine Iyke, and
Nandi Nicholas, after undergoing inspection with body
scanners, with the first two arriving from Sao Paulo, Brazil,
on South African Airlines flights September 27 and 29,
respectively. Olamide carried one kilogram of cocaine hidden
in waistband packages, while Iyke ingested a few wraps.
NDLEA determined that Nicholas had ingested 80 wraps of
ABUJA 00001884 002 OF 003
cocaine weighing 1.315 kilograms before attempting to board
an Iberia Airlines flight to France September 26.
--------------
TURKEY FEARS NIGERIAN "SUITCASE" TRAVEL
--------------
5. (SBU) Turkish diplomats told Poloffs October 14 that their
government (GOT) has focused much of its outreach in Nigeria
on education. The GOT operates one of Kaduna's most
prestigious private schools, which President Yar'Adua's son
attends, and funds 30 undergraduate and graduate scholarships
for Nigerian students to attend universities in Turkey. The
GOT plans to build a new university outside Abuja that would
follow Turkish curriculum and employ Turkish professors. The
Turkish DCM expressed concern over increasing immigration
fraud from Nigeria and Nigerians increasing travel to Turkey
for the sole purpose of filling suitcases with Turkish-made
goods for resale in Nigeria. Turkey fears that this practice
may lower the perceived quality of Turkish goods within
Africa, similar to what has happened with Chinese goods.
--------------
2006 COURT CASE DRAGS ON
--------------
6. (U) The court case of the 18 men arrested in Bauchi State
in 2006 for "addressing each other as women and dressing
themselves as women," which Shari'a law holds as illegal,
experienced yet another postponement. Earlier, according to
Global Rights Program Officer Zaharadeen Gambo, court
officials cancelled a July 28 hearing after individuals
kidnapped the judge and threatened him and court attendees,
who hurriedly dispersed, during Boko Haram violence. Now,
the court has rescheduled the case from October 13 to
November 12. Meanwhile, defendants' legal fees mount, while
their court date moves further away.
--------------
LAUNCH OF MEGA PARTY DELAYED
--------------
7. (SBU) Conference of Nigeria Political Parties National
Publicity Secretary Osita Okechukwu told PolCouns October 15
that proponents of a "mega party" have delayed its launch
from October 7 to "form one pack" with all political parties
not aligned with the ruling People's Democratic Party. He
acknowledged some political parties would not
dissolve out of concern over losing the stipend granted each
party, but said they aimed to convince such parties to
support the "mega party" candidate, rather than putting forth
their own candidates. The press reported October 9 that
former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, and former Sokoto State Governor
Attahiru Bafarawa renounced their political ambitions to
permit the new party's emergence in the North.
-------------- ---
EXPERT SAYS STIMULUS PACKAGE WILL HAVE NO IMPACT
-------------- ---
8. (SBU) Financial Derivatives Managing Director Bismarck
Rewane told Lagos Business School monthly meeting
participants October 6 that the GON's recently-announced plan
to disburse a two-billion dollar stimulus package from the
Excess Crude Account (ECA) will exert no impact on the
QExcess Crude Account (ECA) will exert no impact on the
economy. He claimed federal, state, and local governments
had shared over 10 billion dollars during the past 18 months
with no clear indication on how the money was spent. Rewane
said Nigeria's large informal sector and high corruption rate
made fiscal stimulus ineffective. After the new two-billion
dollar disbursement, the ECA will have 7 billion dollars
remaining from its 2008 maximum of 20 billion dollars.
--------------
OIL SPILLS INCREASING
--------------
9. (U) National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency
ABUJA 00001884 003 OF 003
(NOSDRA) Director General Dr. Ajakaiye announced that 2,122
oil spills occurred in Nigeria between January 2006 and June
2009. Ajakaiye told the press that Nigeria's oil spill
incidents had grown from 252 in 2006, to 597 in 2007, and to
927 in 2008. An additional 346 oil spills occurred during
the first half of 2009. NOSDRA Zonal Director Olubunmi
Akindele in Wari, Delta State, confirmed these statistics to
us.
--------------
YOUTHS TRAINED IN THE NIGER DELTA
--------------
10. (U) Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine
Research (NIOMR) officials told PolEconoff October 7 that
they trained over 500 Niger Delta youths in catfish farming
and shrimp cultivation. Officials said even more youths will
receive training under the rehabilitation and
reintegration programs, assuming post-amnesty peace
continues. This research institute, working to improve
genetically the quality and yield of African catfish, would
like to equip Niger Delta youth with skills to find gainful
employment and avoid militancy. NIOMR officials said the
Rivers state government will improve an out-station youth
training facility at Buguma to train 5,000 youths in catfish
farming and shrimp cultivation, with training open to former
militants.
--------------
2010 EDUCATION DATA SURVEY LAUNCHED
--------------
11. (U) The Nigerian National Population Commission (NPopC)
launched the Nigerian 2010 Education Data Survey (NEDS),with
funding provided by a partnership involving USAID and DFID,
to generate data on education enrollment and performance to
policy-makers and program managers supervising basic
education in Nigeria. Sponsors will link NEDS data with the
recently completed 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health
Survey, also conducted by NPopC with USAID support.
-------------- --
1,800 PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS ATTEND COLLEGE FAIRS
-------------- --
12. (U) Over 1,300 students and graduates participated in the
U.S. Mission Education Advising Center's Eleventh Annual
College Fair and Career Day October 6 to 7 in Abuja, with
former Nigerian Senate President Ken Nnamani delivering
rousing keynote remarks about his own experiences as a
graduate student in the United States. On October 8, over
500 prospective students attended a similar event sponsored
by CG Lagos. Nigeria now sends more students to study in the
United States than any other African country.
-------------- -
REALITY TV PROGRAM BEGINS FILMING AT CONSULATE
-------------- -
13. (U) Filming of the new Inspire Africa reality television
program "The Debaters" began October 15, when the initial 14
contestants visited the Information Resource Center of the
Consulate General in Lagos in the public diplomacy section.
They will return each Thursday for 10 weeks. The program, to
be filmed also in the University of Lagos and British Council
libraries, aims to raise the level of civil discourse in
Qlibraries, aims to raise the level of civil discourse in
Nigeria.
14. (U) Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos
collaborated on this telegram.
SANDERS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL, INR/AA;
USAID FOR AFR/WA (DALZOUMA)
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN PHUM SNAR GV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- OCTOBER 16, 2009
REF: A. ABUJA 1036
B. ABUJA 0307
Classified By: Political Counselor James P. McAnulty
for reasons in Sections 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (U) Mission Nigeria provides the following compilation of
recent political, economic, and social developments not
previously reported.
--------------
GUINEAN PROTESTERS IN LAGOS DEMAND CIVIL RULE
--------------
2. (SBU) Members of the Guinean community in Lagos organized
a protest march October 14 to demand an end to military rule
in Guinea. Three hundred protesters marched in streets
displaying placards, chanting protest songs deriding Guinean
military leader Moussa Dadis Camara, and carrying a mock
coffin. Some placards sought the U.S. President's
intervention. The demonstrators held a protest rally in
front of the Lagos office of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS),a few blocks from Consulate Lagos'
Public Affairs section. Speakers took turns urging Nigerian
President Yar'Adua's intervention, in his capacity as ECOWAS
Chairman, to restore democratic rule immediately and curb
alleged atrocities. According to the press, protest
coordinator Muhammed Ba alleged Guinean military engagement
in serious human rights abuses, including killing over 500
Guineans who openly demanded a return to civil rule.
-------------- --------------
RIBADU'S RISKY TRIP TO NIGERIA ADDS TO HIS PROFILE
-------------- --------------
3. (C) Former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
Chief of Staff Dapo Olorunyomi told International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Officer about former
Chairman Nuhu Ribadu's surreptitious visit to pay his
respects to his mentor and deceased human rights activist
Gani Fawehinmi. According to Olorunyomi, against the advice
of his close confidants, Ribadu flew to a neighboring country
and drove through the porous Nigeria-Benin border unimpeded
by security agents as no watch list apparently listed his
name. After attending ceremonies at the mortuary, viewing
the corpse, and paying his respects to the late Gani's
family, Ribadu drove back immediately and exited Nigeria
safely within eight hours of entry. Olorunyomi noted that
Ribadu's fierce sense of loyalty to his former mentor and his
strong belief in fatalism drove him to undertake this
reckless act. Olorunyomi, now Enterprise Director for the
new Lagos-based business newspaper daily "NEXT," remarked
that these actions have added to Ribadu's universal popular
appeal should he, as widely speculated, run for public
office. He noted that like-minded people around him,
including former Federal Capital Territory Governor Nasir
El-Rufai, have tried to push him in that direction.
--------------
INL SCANNERS LEAD TO DRUG TRAFFICKING ARRESTS
--------------
4. (U) The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
arrested Agbabiaka Lukman, a Lagos State University student,
September 30 at Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International
QSeptember 30 at Lagos's Murtala Mohammed International
Airport for testing positive for cocaine during a screening
by INL-donated body scanners while attempting to board an
Arik Airlines flight to London. The student confessed that
Adegbemisola Adedeji, a notorious recruiter of drug couriers
deported from London in May, had given him drugs to transport
to London in exchange for 2,500 British pounds. Lukman
ingested 59 cocaine wraps. Police arrested three other
suspects, Hassan Akeem Olamide, Nnoli Sebastine Iyke, and
Nandi Nicholas, after undergoing inspection with body
scanners, with the first two arriving from Sao Paulo, Brazil,
on South African Airlines flights September 27 and 29,
respectively. Olamide carried one kilogram of cocaine hidden
in waistband packages, while Iyke ingested a few wraps.
NDLEA determined that Nicholas had ingested 80 wraps of
ABUJA 00001884 002 OF 003
cocaine weighing 1.315 kilograms before attempting to board
an Iberia Airlines flight to France September 26.
--------------
TURKEY FEARS NIGERIAN "SUITCASE" TRAVEL
--------------
5. (SBU) Turkish diplomats told Poloffs October 14 that their
government (GOT) has focused much of its outreach in Nigeria
on education. The GOT operates one of Kaduna's most
prestigious private schools, which President Yar'Adua's son
attends, and funds 30 undergraduate and graduate scholarships
for Nigerian students to attend universities in Turkey. The
GOT plans to build a new university outside Abuja that would
follow Turkish curriculum and employ Turkish professors. The
Turkish DCM expressed concern over increasing immigration
fraud from Nigeria and Nigerians increasing travel to Turkey
for the sole purpose of filling suitcases with Turkish-made
goods for resale in Nigeria. Turkey fears that this practice
may lower the perceived quality of Turkish goods within
Africa, similar to what has happened with Chinese goods.
--------------
2006 COURT CASE DRAGS ON
--------------
6. (U) The court case of the 18 men arrested in Bauchi State
in 2006 for "addressing each other as women and dressing
themselves as women," which Shari'a law holds as illegal,
experienced yet another postponement. Earlier, according to
Global Rights Program Officer Zaharadeen Gambo, court
officials cancelled a July 28 hearing after individuals
kidnapped the judge and threatened him and court attendees,
who hurriedly dispersed, during Boko Haram violence. Now,
the court has rescheduled the case from October 13 to
November 12. Meanwhile, defendants' legal fees mount, while
their court date moves further away.
--------------
LAUNCH OF MEGA PARTY DELAYED
--------------
7. (SBU) Conference of Nigeria Political Parties National
Publicity Secretary Osita Okechukwu told PolCouns October 15
that proponents of a "mega party" have delayed its launch
from October 7 to "form one pack" with all political parties
not aligned with the ruling People's Democratic Party. He
acknowledged some political parties would not
dissolve out of concern over losing the stipend granted each
party, but said they aimed to convince such parties to
support the "mega party" candidate, rather than putting forth
their own candidates. The press reported October 9 that
former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice
President Atiku Abubakar, and former Sokoto State Governor
Attahiru Bafarawa renounced their political ambitions to
permit the new party's emergence in the North.
-------------- ---
EXPERT SAYS STIMULUS PACKAGE WILL HAVE NO IMPACT
-------------- ---
8. (SBU) Financial Derivatives Managing Director Bismarck
Rewane told Lagos Business School monthly meeting
participants October 6 that the GON's recently-announced plan
to disburse a two-billion dollar stimulus package from the
Excess Crude Account (ECA) will exert no impact on the
QExcess Crude Account (ECA) will exert no impact on the
economy. He claimed federal, state, and local governments
had shared over 10 billion dollars during the past 18 months
with no clear indication on how the money was spent. Rewane
said Nigeria's large informal sector and high corruption rate
made fiscal stimulus ineffective. After the new two-billion
dollar disbursement, the ECA will have 7 billion dollars
remaining from its 2008 maximum of 20 billion dollars.
--------------
OIL SPILLS INCREASING
--------------
9. (U) National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency
ABUJA 00001884 003 OF 003
(NOSDRA) Director General Dr. Ajakaiye announced that 2,122
oil spills occurred in Nigeria between January 2006 and June
2009. Ajakaiye told the press that Nigeria's oil spill
incidents had grown from 252 in 2006, to 597 in 2007, and to
927 in 2008. An additional 346 oil spills occurred during
the first half of 2009. NOSDRA Zonal Director Olubunmi
Akindele in Wari, Delta State, confirmed these statistics to
us.
--------------
YOUTHS TRAINED IN THE NIGER DELTA
--------------
10. (U) Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine
Research (NIOMR) officials told PolEconoff October 7 that
they trained over 500 Niger Delta youths in catfish farming
and shrimp cultivation. Officials said even more youths will
receive training under the rehabilitation and
reintegration programs, assuming post-amnesty peace
continues. This research institute, working to improve
genetically the quality and yield of African catfish, would
like to equip Niger Delta youth with skills to find gainful
employment and avoid militancy. NIOMR officials said the
Rivers state government will improve an out-station youth
training facility at Buguma to train 5,000 youths in catfish
farming and shrimp cultivation, with training open to former
militants.
--------------
2010 EDUCATION DATA SURVEY LAUNCHED
--------------
11. (U) The Nigerian National Population Commission (NPopC)
launched the Nigerian 2010 Education Data Survey (NEDS),with
funding provided by a partnership involving USAID and DFID,
to generate data on education enrollment and performance to
policy-makers and program managers supervising basic
education in Nigeria. Sponsors will link NEDS data with the
recently completed 2008 Nigerian Demographic and Health
Survey, also conducted by NPopC with USAID support.
-------------- --
1,800 PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS ATTEND COLLEGE FAIRS
-------------- --
12. (U) Over 1,300 students and graduates participated in the
U.S. Mission Education Advising Center's Eleventh Annual
College Fair and Career Day October 6 to 7 in Abuja, with
former Nigerian Senate President Ken Nnamani delivering
rousing keynote remarks about his own experiences as a
graduate student in the United States. On October 8, over
500 prospective students attended a similar event sponsored
by CG Lagos. Nigeria now sends more students to study in the
United States than any other African country.
-------------- -
REALITY TV PROGRAM BEGINS FILMING AT CONSULATE
-------------- -
13. (U) Filming of the new Inspire Africa reality television
program "The Debaters" began October 15, when the initial 14
contestants visited the Information Resource Center of the
Consulate General in Lagos in the public diplomacy section.
They will return each Thursday for 10 weeks. The program, to
be filmed also in the University of Lagos and British Council
libraries, aims to raise the level of civil discourse in
Qlibraries, aims to raise the level of civil discourse in
Nigeria.
14. (U) Embassy Abuja and Consulate General Lagos
collaborated on this telegram.
SANDERS