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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ABUJA 001023 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA 
DEPT PASS TO USTR-AGAMA 
DOE FOR GPERSON, CHAYLOCK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM ECON EPET ETRD KJUS KCOR NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: BI-WEEKLY POL/ECON UPDATES FOR MAY 1-15, 
2008 
 
¶1. (U) Following is a joint Embassy Abuja-ConGen Lagos 
compilation of May 1-15, 2008 political/economic highlights, 
which did not feature in our other reporting, covering: 
-- Elections: Tribunals, Reforms, Re-runs 
-- Corruption 
-- Human Rights, TIP 
-- National Assembly 
-- Narcotics and Law Enforcement 
-- Economic News 
-- Agriculture 
-- Oil and Gas 
-- Security 
-- Other Noteworthy News 
. 
Elections: Tribunals, Reforms, Re-runs 
-------------------------------------- 
. 
¶2. (SBU) OGUN HOUSE SPEAKER IMPEACHED:  On May 15, the Ogun 
State House of Assembly impeached House Speaker Titi Oseni 
along with the Deputy House Speaker, accusing the two of 
"incompetence" and "arrogance".  Oseni complained the 
impeachment broke House rules and she vowed to continue in 
office.  A Post contact told PolSpec that the impeachment 
climaxed weeks of internal bickering by legislators over the 
fate of the increasingly unpopular Speaker, whose highhanded 
rule has been resented by lawmakers.  State Governor Daniel 
had tried to resolve the dispute between the Speaker and 
legislators, angry at what they considered the Speaker's high 
handed rule in office, but was unsuccessful. 
. 
Corruption 
---------- 
. 
¶3. (U) BILL TO CREATE SPECIAL FINANCIAL CRIMES COURT: Senator 
Simeon Oduoye (Peoples Democratic Party, Osun State) 
introduced a bill with the National Assembly on May 
13 to create a special court to hear financial crimes and 
corruption cases.  Oduoye told Poloffs the bill aims to 
address concerns of the EFCC and ICPC by reducing the time to 
prosecute cases through the courts and providing a cadre of 
technically competent judges.  Oduoye maintains he has the 
support of the EFCC, ICPC and Chief Justice Kutigi in moving 
the bill forward.  Should he not be successful at 
establishing a special court, Oduoye says he will propose 
establishment of a special division for financial crimes 
within the federal high court system.  Support for his bill 
among Senate members is mixed. 
 
¶4. (U) COORDINATOR AND DEPUTY OF POLICE EQUIPMENT FUND 
ARRESTED:  National Coordinator of the Police Equipment Fund 
(PEF) Kenny Martins (former President Obasanjo's 
brother-in-law by a former marriage) and his Deputy Ibrahim 
Dumuje were arrested on May 5 for forgery and conspiracy to 
commit fraud.  The court case is expected to begin on June 4. 
 Martins is accused of misappropriation of approximately $415 
million in PEF funds during his two plus years as Coordinator 
of the fund. 
. 
Human Rights, TIP 
----------------- 
. 
¶5. (U) EBONYI COMMUNAL CLASH: Local press reports one person 
killed and several injured in a communal clash between 
neighboring Ezillo and Ezza ethnic groups in Ebonyi State on 
May 10.  Approximately 200 houses, stores and properties were 
burned.  The clash reportedly erupted out of a dispute over 
an Ezillo man's plans to build a telephone booth on land 
claimed by the Ezza people.  Anti-riot police and military 
were dispersed to the area to keep peace late in the 
afternoon of May 10. 
 
¶6. (U) TIP STATISTICS ANNOUNCED: Nigeria's National 
Association for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons 
(NAPTIP) announced at its annual stakeholder meeting May 14 
that the agency handled 587 cases of human trafficking for 
"sexual exploitation and child abuse" between October 2007 
and May 2008.  The Agency's director of investigations, 
 
ABUJA 00001023  002 OF 005 
 
 
Muhammad Babandede, also revealed that 10 traffickers had 
been convicted during the same period.  . 
National Assembly 
----------------- 
. 
¶7. (U) FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL:  The Freedom of 
Information bill was again rejected in the House of Assembly 
on April 29.  Despite requests by the Deputy Speaker, Bayero 
Usman Nafada, to stall the vote, supporters in the House put 
forward the motion to hold the vote; the bill was rejected by 
voice vote.  Supporters of the bill maintain it is the fear 
of exposure of past misdeeds that caused the rejection; 
however, several of those voting against the bill noted that 
the bill's sponsor was not in the country at the time of the 
vote.  The Senate announced on May 13 that it intends to hold 
a public hearing on the bill in early June 2008.  The 
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media 
Ayogu Eze told PolOff that the Freedom of Information bill 
"will certainly pass" in the Senate, after public hearings 
scheduled for early June.  Senator Eze maintained that 
consideration of the bill in the House was delayed due to the 
absence of its principal sponsor, Abike Dabiri, and not 
because of any reluctance or opposition in the Assembly to 
the legislation, which some contend will lift the veil on 
questionable government dealings and activities of public 
officials. 
 
¶8. (SBU) BAKASSI UPDATE:  Prince Bola Ajibola, head of the 
Nigerian delegation to the Nigerian-Cameroonian Joint 
Commission on the Bakassi, briefed members of the House of 
Representatives May 14 about the historical background of the 
Bakassi, World Court judgment against Nigeria, and the 
Greentree agreement.  The GON is hoping to appease 
lawmakers' concerns and encourage them to belatedly ratify 
the treaty which ceded the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon in 
¶2006.  On May 12, Nigerian television news featured a 
groundbreaking ceremony for a 200-unit housing development in 
Cross River state to accommodate resettled people from the 
Bakassi.  Florence Ita-Giwa, the President's Special 
Assistant for Legislative Affairs and a Bakassi local, was 
visibly unhappy and complained to the cameras that the 
problems of the Bakassi people go beyond housing.  She noted 
that the former residents have been denied the right to their 
farmlands, fishing (their primary source of income), and the 
right to actively participate in politics.  On May 20 the 
Ambassador met with UN Special Advisor on Bakassi issues, 
Said Djinnit, to hear his brief on challenges with the GON on 
this issue.  He stressed that GON National Assembly members 
were misguided on their interpretation of the issues, as 
Bakassi; was not a treaty and did not need acceding to by 
Nigerian Senators.  He added that he found a better 
understanding among members of the executive branch on the 
issue and that he was hopeful things would move forward when 
he returned in July.  Ambassador suggested that Djinnit reach 
out to members of the Senate to brief them on the differences 
and nuances on the Greentree Agreement as a way to try to 
remove the politics from the issues so that they are better 
informed about Nigerian obligations under the Agreement. 
Djinnit took this on board and mused he would set up a round 
of talks with GON Senators. (Comment:  Though some members of 
the NASS continue to grumble about the Greentree agreement, 
we believe that there is no serious threat of Nigeria going 
back on the deal.  However, the GON may need to do more to 
appease resettled Bakassi people, both economically and 
politically.  Most observers also agree that the 
Constitution, which explicitly refers to Bakassi as a part of 
Nigeria, needs to be amended.  End Comment.) 
. 
Narcotics and Law Enforcement 
---------------------------- 
. 
¶9. (U) USG SUPPLIED BODY SCANNERS STOP DRUG COURIERS: Since 
the March 27 installation of USG funded body scanners in 
Abuja and Kano airports, over eleven kilograms of 
cocaine have been seized from individuals attempting to 
smuggle drugs onto planes.  The Soter RS scanners provided by 
INL to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) 
 
ABUJA 00001023  003 OF 005 
 
 
are designed to detect all foreign materials on or inside the 
human body, and have led to the arrest of 22 men and three 
women to date.  The detained drug "mules" attempted 
to traffic cocaine concealed in undergarments and various 
body cavities, including packets of drugs swallowed in an 
attempt to avoid detection.  Similar machines in the Lagos 
and Port Harcourt airports are to be operational by the first 
week in June.  Newer, updated "itemizers" that detect trace 
amounts of explosives and illegal narcotics should be 
installed by the end of June in all four international 
airports, replacing older models which will be refurbished 
for backup use.  INL is in the process of scheduling 
additional training for all personnel who will operate the 
new machines. 
. 
Economic News 
------------- 
. 
¶10. (SBU) WHY SO MANY EMPTY PETROL STATIONS?: U.S. Mission 
road travelers to northern Nigeria have recently noticed that 
there seem to be many newly-built petrol stations, most of 
which are standing idle and never seem to have any fuel. 
These fuel stations are often clustered together on the 
outskirts of towns and villages, and this clustering seems 
odd given that the price of fuel is regulated by government, 
so (in theory) stations cannot compete with one another on 
price.  A northern business contact recently remarked to 
Poloff that if a Nigerian wants to obtain a license to buy 
wholesale quantities of fuel, he must first prove to the 
government that he operates one or more petrol stations. 
However, once that license is obtained, many businessmen 
choose to sell their fuel on the black market (at far greater 
profit) and leave their official fuel station sitting idle. 
 
¶11. (U) NATIONAL WAR COLLEGE STUDENTS VISIT COMMERCE, FINANCE 
MINISTRIES:  A delegation from the U.S. National War College 
met with officials of the Ministry of Commerce 
and Industry and Finance on May 13.  Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry Trade Director Badeji Abiokoye briefed the 
delegation on ongoing initiatives including the cassava 
initiative aimed at expanding cassava yield and exporting its 
derivatives and the enterprise zone initiative aimed at 
bringing small businesses together in clusters to reduce 
their operational costs and achieve economies of scale.  At 
the Ministry of Finance, Budget Director Dr. Bright Okogu, 
told the delegation that the GON is considering using more 
Public-Private Partnership frameworks to implement 
infrastructure projects rather than funding such projects 
from the annual budget. 
. 
Agriculture 
----------- 
. 
¶12. (U) AG MINISTER APPOINTS NEW SECURITY TEAM ON FOOD 
PRICES:  The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources 
(MINAG) appointed a seven member food security team to work 
jointly with international donor organizations to address 
rising food prices.  Following the creation of the food 
security team, in a May 13 meeting between donors and the 
GON, a subcommittee was established to work with the GON food 
security team to develop a Donor/GON Food Security Response 
Plan.  The Plan's goal is to identify short, medium, and long 
term strategies. 
 
¶13. (U) At the same donor/GON meeting on May 13, the GON 
representative outlined the MINAG's planned response to 
rising food prices:-- Releasing 65,000 metric tons (mt) of 
assorted grains from the Federal National Strategic Reserve. 
-- Purchasing and delivering 650,000 mt of fertilizers to the 
states. 
-- Releasing funds to complete 25 silos to increase storage 
capacity. 
-- Encouraging state governments to increase grain reserves 
to 10 percent of grain harvested 
-- Promoting the establishment of fertilizer manufacturing 
plants and expansion of the national gas grid to power the 
plants. 
 
ABUJA 00001023  004 OF 005 
 
 
-- Proposing the immediate sale of 1,000 government owned 
farm tractors. 
-- Advocating that Nigerians should eat what they grow. 
-- Consideration of a plan to close Nigeria's border to 
prevent food exportation if the current situation worsens. 
. 
Oil and Gas 
----------- 
. 
¶14. (U) ANOTHER DEADLY PIPELINE EXPLOSION:  Estimates of the 
dead ranged from 50 to 100 people, with hundreds others 
injured, in a gasoline pipeline explosion on May 14 in the 
Ijegun area of Lagos State.  The Nigerian National Petroleum 
Corporation (NNPC) said a bulldozer clearing land for a new 
road ruptured the pipeline and a spark caused the 
gasoline to ignite.  NNPC officials accused state road 
workers of failing to adequately survey the land on which 
they were working and said encroachment on NNPC pipeline 
property by squatters contributed to the high death toll.  A 
contact with a local trade union confirmed NNPC's version of 
events.  While previous pipeline explosions have 
been blamed on local residents breaking lines to steal 
refined petroleum, this case appears to be the result of an 
accident, albeit an entirely preventable one. 
 
¶15. (SBU) OIL PRODUCTION CONTINUES ITS SLOW DECLINE:  The 
Central Bank of Nigeria announced April's oil production 
averaged 1.81 million barrels per day, down from 2.2 
million barrels in January.  April was an unusually tough 
month, even by Nigerian standards, for oil production, with 
several attacks on Shell facilities and a strike by 
ExxonMobil workers taking almost half of Nigeria's daily 
production off-line in the last week of April.  A Chevron 
contact told Lagos Consul General that he expected a big 
boost in production numbers when Chevron's Agbami offshore 
facility begins operation in July, although he said it would 
take "some time" for the facility to reach its full 
capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.  (Comment:  Shifting 
production from onshore to deep offshore is a mixed blessing 
for the Government of Nigeria.  On the one hand, deep 
offshore platforms are generally safer from attack than 
facilities in the Niger Delta swamp and the boost to oil 
output will forestall a possible move by OPEC to further cut 
Nigeria's production quota.  On the other hand, the 
government's initial receipts from offshore oil production 
are lower because of the structure of the related contracts. 
End Comment.) 
 
¶16. (U) OGONI SEEK SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION: A 
member of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People 
(MOSOP) told Poloff on May 13 that the Ogoni people 
(through MOSOP) are working with the UNEP to identify ways 
forward in securing the clean up of Ogoniland in Rivers 
State.  However, he noted the GON has yet to get on board. 
. 
Security 
-------- 
. 
¶17. (SBU) KIDNAPPINGS OF LEBANESE, SYRIAN, CHINESE IN NIGER 
DELTA:  A human rights contact told Poloff on May 19 that two 
Lebanese nationals were kidnapped on May 18 around 2:30 PM 
near the Port Harcourt/Owerri road in Ubioma, Rivers State. 
Nigerian press reported that two Lebanese nationals and a 
Syrian were kidnapped.  All reportedly work for JMS 
Construction Company in Rivers State.  According to Lagos 
Regional Security Officer (RSO) sources, two Chinese 
businessmen were kidnapped May 6 from the Chinese 
Construction Civil Engineering Company in Akampka, Cross 
River State.  RSO sources suggested this was a "localized 
problem" and a 300 million naira ransom demand was reportedly 
made.  The hostages were released on May 9.  However, 
Ambassador was told by several high-placed Lagos businessmen 
there that the Chinese President called President Yar'Adua 
regarding the issue and that the Chinese government was very 
much "involved" in the means needed for the businessmen to be 
released. 
. 
 
ABUJA 00001023  005 OF 005 
 
 
Other Noteworthy News 
--------------------- 
. 
¶18. (U) NIGERIAN TURKISH COLLEGES CELEBRATE 10 YEAR 
ANNIVERSARY:  Nigerian Turkish International Colleges will 
mark their 10-year anniversary in Nigeria on May 24.  The 
colleges, which provide high-quality primary and secondary 
instruction to the children of Nigeria's elite, are located 
in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, and Kano.  The curriculum 
emphasizes math and science, and Islamic studies.  All 
courses are taught in English, though teachers for all 
courses are Turkish.  Following graduation from these elite 
schools, students can pursue higher education at discounted 
rates at Turkish universities.  The ideological architect of 
Nigerian Turkish International College, which is part of a 
global collection of schools in 80 countries, is Fethullah 
Gulen, an Islamic scholar who was exiled to the U.S. for his 
criticism of the Turkish overnment's restrictions on Islamic 
practice in Turkey.  In addition to funds raised through 
steep admissions fees, the Colleges are funded by private 
donations from Turkish businessmen. 
SANDERS