Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09LAGOS325
2009-08-03 15:50:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Lagos
Cable title:
NIGER DELTA: IS AMNESTY A SCAM?
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C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000325
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KCRM NI
SUBJECT: NIGER DELTA: IS AMNESTY A SCAM?
Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)
C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000325
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KCRM NI
SUBJECT: NIGER DELTA: IS AMNESTY A SCAM?
Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)
1. (C) On July 28, Allen Onyema, the national chairman of
the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN),which
provided nonviolence training to militant youth from the
Niger Delta for the last three years, told PolOff that the
Executive Assistant to First Lady Tuai Yar'Adua had
approached him with a request that FEHN work with her own
NGO, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF),to
provide jointly "rehabilitation and reintegration training"
for up to "10,000" militants taking advantage of the
government's amnesty offer End Summary.
2. (C) Onyema stated that WAYEF has no competence nor
experience in providing nonviolence or other transformational
training for violent and criminal youth, and concluded that
his organization was being set up to serve as a "front" for
illicitly diverting funds allocated for militant
rehabilitation.
3. (C) Comment: With militant strength widely estimated at
no more than 3,000, a rehabilitation scheme budgeted for
10,000 seems suspiciously extravagent. Ex-militants are
expected to receive a GON monthly stipend, reportedly a
relatively robust 55,000 naira, which would provide a
significant incentive to inflate the personnel numbers akin
to the countless "ghost" employees in other government
entities. End comment.
4. (U) This cable has been cleared by Embassy Abuja.
BLAIR
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KCRM NI
SUBJECT: NIGER DELTA: IS AMNESTY A SCAM?
Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)
1. (C) On July 28, Allen Onyema, the national chairman of
the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria (FEHN),which
provided nonviolence training to militant youth from the
Niger Delta for the last three years, told PolOff that the
Executive Assistant to First Lady Tuai Yar'Adua had
approached him with a request that FEHN work with her own
NGO, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF),to
provide jointly "rehabilitation and reintegration training"
for up to "10,000" militants taking advantage of the
government's amnesty offer End Summary.
2. (C) Onyema stated that WAYEF has no competence nor
experience in providing nonviolence or other transformational
training for violent and criminal youth, and concluded that
his organization was being set up to serve as a "front" for
illicitly diverting funds allocated for militant
rehabilitation.
3. (C) Comment: With militant strength widely estimated at
no more than 3,000, a rehabilitation scheme budgeted for
10,000 seems suspiciously extravagent. Ex-militants are
expected to receive a GON monthly stipend, reportedly a
relatively robust 55,000 naira, which would provide a
significant incentive to inflate the personnel numbers akin
to the countless "ghost" employees in other government
entities. End comment.
4. (U) This cable has been cleared by Embassy Abuja.
BLAIR