FOREIGN MINISTER READY TO LAUNCH BINATIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002017 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/FO AND AF/W E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV NI SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER READY TO LAUNCH BINATIONAL COMMISSION IN EARLY DECEMBER REF: A. ABUJA 1994 ¶B. STATE 110955 (NOTAL) ¶C. ABUJA 1962 Classified By: Political Counselor James P. McAnulty for reasons in Sections 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) On November 3, the Ambassador, accompanied by DCM, PolCouns, and Deputy PolChief (notetaker),met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Chief Ojo Maduekwe and four other MFA officials to review the objectives of the U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC) and seek agreement on themes for the joint working groups outlined in ref B. The Foreign Minister said that he had already begun to sensitize various elements within other Government of Nigeria (GON) ministries about the BNC and indicated that his points were fully vetted. We made significant progress and there was significant compromising on the GON side. Maduekwe agreed to make himself available in early December for a proposed signing of the BNC framework in Washington with the Secretary. End Summary. -------------- YAR'ADUA "DELIGHTED" -------------- ¶2. (C) The Foreign Minister arrived at the meeting directly from the Presidential Villa, where he had briefed President Yar'Adua on the latest developments in the Binational Commission process. Maduekwe described the Nigerian head of state as "delighted" about the pending launch of the BNC. He affirmed full agreement on the following areas: the GON co-chair for Energy and Investment will be the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. The Minister of Defense, Major General Godwin Abbe, and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Ufot Ekaette, will be the Nigerian co-leads for the Niger Delta and Regional Security Cooperation (NDRSC) Working Group. The GON added the NDRSC should more broadly capture "military and defense matters, including the Gulf of Guinea." ¶3. (C) The GON strongly urged a way to include agriculture, either in the Energy and Investment Working Group or on its own given the importance of agriculture and food security. (Note: Mission agrees agriculture is vital, particularly given POTUS Food Security Initiative and related USG programs already in place to support it. End Note.) -------------- HURDLES -------------- ¶4. (C) MFA Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Joe Keshi, proposed two new Working Groups: (1) Consular and Educational Matters; and (2) Administration of Justice, which would combine and replace separate working groups for anti-corruption and election reform. The GON was greatly concerned by the domestic political optics of working groups with "anti-corruption" and "electoral reform" labels since they promoted the image that Nigeria is a failed state. The Foreign Minister affirmed that Nigeria "is not as bad as Afghanistan or Somalia. We are a work in progress." While Nigeria was ready to take its "medicine" on these admittedly critical subjects, he said, pride and politics prevented the GON from agreeing to publicly don "a patient's gown in a hospital bed." He stressed, however, that the GON fully supports addressing corruption and electoral reform in the BNC context. Maduekwe suggested that repackaging the effort while retaining the core of its substance could be accomplished by creating a "Good Governance" (vice Administration of Justice) working group that would have as QAdministration of Justice) working group that would have as separate components (1) Electoral Reform; (2) Anti-corruption; and, (3) Judicial Sector Reform. ¶5. (C) Maduekwe and his colleagues had no definitive suggestion as to who would lead a Good Governance working group. However, the Foreign Minister pointed out that, since we have two different government structures, there would not necessarily be exact symmetry on the number of co-chairs (e.g., as already witnessed by GON co-leads for the NDRSC working group). He speculated the GON side might need two or three Good Governance co-chairs potentially drawn from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (IPCP),and someone to be determined for Justice Sector reform. Keshi later suggested the Solicitor General, Alhajji Abdullahi Ahmed Yola, as a possible Justice Sector co-chair. Maduekwe undertook to send us the GON's proposed co-chairs by the end of the week. Ambassador said she would inform Washington of the GON proposal to create a Good Governance Working Group with the three sub-themes. (Note: the MFA Minister of State is a possible candidate for this role.) ¶6. (C) The Ambassador pushed back on the idea of creating an additional working group on Education and Consular issues (which we recognized would be focused on visa issues), underscoring that the Secretary's goal was to keep the working group themes strategic. Maduekwe agreed to withdraw this proposal, noting that we should not let "perfection be the enemy of the ideal" in moving to get the BNC launched promptly, and hoped that we would see our way to agreeing to the Good Governance Working Group theme. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) Maduekwe was clearly eager to kick off the Binational Commission, and made some significant concessions to that end. Given that the Foreign Minister had briefed President Yar'Adua before our session, the overall BNC structure appears to have his imprimatur. We believe the GON recommendation to create a Good Goverancne working group is an issue of optics, not a disagreement over substance, and has the benefit of making space for additional issues to be addressed without creating another working group. We should strongly consider this compromise of combining elections and anti-corruption into a Good Governance Working Group to resolve what appears to be a deal breaker from the GON side. SANDERS