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O 020635Z SEP 08
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3834
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS IMMEDIATE 9878
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0355
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
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RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001737 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA 
DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2018 
TAGS: PARM KNNP PINR PINS KFPC ENRG ETTC MNUC KSTC
IR, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN MFA DENIES IRANIAN-NIGERIAN NUCLEAR DEAL 
 
REF: PFLAUMER-SILSKI 8/29 E-MAIL 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d). 
 
¶1. (C) Rabiu Shehu (protect), Director of the Office of MFA 
Minister of State Alhaji Tijjani Kaura (who nominally headed 
the Nigerian delegation in talks with the Iranians), 
emphatically denied to PolOff on August 29 that Nigeria had 
entered into any sort of nuclear agreement or signed a 
memorandum of understanding on the subject with Iran. 
According to Shehu, the talks were the third session of the 
Nigeria-Iran joint commission (following earlier conferences 
in 2004 and 2006), a bilateral trade body.  Shehu said most 
of the Nigerian participants came from the Ministry of 
Commerce; the Iranian Minister of Commerce led their 
delegation, but most other participants were mid-level 
ministry officials. 
 
¶2. (C) According to Shehu (who wrote Kaura's speech), the 
Minister of State did not talk about nuclear issues and only 
attended the opening and closing ceremonies of the talks.  He 
added that no Nigerian officials from the Ministry of Energy 
or any other Nigerian governmental bodies which deal with 
nuclear issues were involved in the discussions.  He stressed 
that, notwithstanding press reports to the contrary, no/no 
agreements or even memoranda of understanding were signed 
which touched on nuclear issues.  He said most of the talks 
dealt with customs, trade and immigration.  When his 
attention was drawn to the press reports, he seemed 
surprised, and characterized them as possibly "a publicity 
stunt" by the Iranians. 
 
¶3. (C) PolOff also spoke with MFA First UN Division Director 
Maria Laose (protect) who is responsible for nuclear 
non-proliferation issues.  Laose (who was formerly part of 
the Nigerian mission to the IAEA and recently attended the 
Proliferation Security Initiative Conference in Washington) 
seemed genuinely surprised and even alarmed when told about 
the press reports.  She said she knew nothing about any such 
agreement, and was well aware of the implications signing one 
would have, given the sanctions in place against Iran. 
 
¶4. (C) Comment: We can certainly not exclude that the subject 
of nuclear energy was discussed in the course of these 
discussions, and will continue to press the GON for full 
details on what was, or was not, agreed to in the talks. 
EconCouns is scheduled to meet with the Nigerian Commerce 
Minister this evening, and will try to sound him out on what 
was discussed.  We also note that the GON has made no secret 
of its interest in nuclear power as a minor part of its 
long-term/long-term master plan for power generation; the 
Nigerians raised the issue in June with a visiting French 
delegation as well.  That said, we strongly suspect that 
there is less here than meets the eye.  End comment. 
PIASCIK