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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000358 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR FOR USTR AGAMA 
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ 
DOE FOR GPERSON,CHAYLOCK 
TREASURY FOR DFIELDS, AIERONIMO, RHALL 
DOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF CM NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: FORMER BAKASSI RESIDENTS ADEQUATELY CARED 
FOR, FUTURE UNCERTAIN 
 
REF: A. STATE 71955 
     ¶B. LAGOS 243 
     ¶C. LAGOS 317 
     ¶D. ABUJA 1626 
     ¶E. ABUJA 1632 
     ¶F. ABUJA 1636 
 
¶1. 1. (SBU) Summary: While the Red Cross and others estimate 
that 9,500 families or between 40,000 and 70,000 people have 
left the Bakassi Peninsula for Nigeria since the completion 
of the August 14 handover to Cameroon, only a small fraction 
of that number of people were observed in a recent tour of a 
resettlement center in Cross River State on August 19. 
Repeated questioning about where the present whereabouts of 
the remainder of the former Bakassi residents produced only 
vague answers about being "with family."  Poloff was told 
that there were no other resettlement centers despite press 
accounts to the contrary.  Facilities and security at the 
center were minimal but adequate. Residents did not express 
any particular desire to return to Bakassi, however, an 
unofficial spokesman for the residents said that they wanted 
to be allowed to settle wherever in Nigeria they wanted 
rather than in the housing under construction for them, which 
he claimed did not meet their needs.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On August 19 Poloff and PolSpec visited both the old 
and new resettlement centers for former Bakassi residents at 
Ekpri Ikang in Cross River State. Poloff was told by Red 
Cross staff and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) 
workers and residents that this was the only operating 
resettlement center, but the press has reported a number of 
others allegedly operating in other states.  Although both 
the Red Cross and a unofficial spokesman for residents 
speaking in the presence of a large crowd who nodded assent 
estimated that 9,500 families had been displaced from Bakassi 
it appeared that no more than 2,000 people were housed in the 
Ekpri Ikang center.  Asked where the rest of the displaced 
persons were living produced only vague gestures and 
references to being "with family." 
 
¶3. (U) Conditions at the center were basic, but adequate. 
Several police officers were on duty in a small gatehouse at 
the entrance, but Poloff and Polspec were allowed access 
without difficulty.  Residents appeared to be free to come 
and go as they pleased.  At the entrance to a former school, 
a Red Cross office had been set up, and a representative 
there said that residents' major complaint was depression. 
There was no evidence of unrest or anger among the center's 
residents.  The residents were housed in unfurnished, former 
classrooms of the school, and slept on the floor.  The 
school's sanitary facilities were functioning adequately. 
The center had a walk-in clinic manned by one doctor and 
seven nurses.  No patients were in bed and the nurses said no 
one in the center was suffering from a serious illness. 
Officials said a primary school operated in the center, and 
that food was delivered daily by the SEMA.  No reserves of 
food are kept at the center and no mention was made of how 
long food deliveries will continue.  Other than the 
representatives of the Red Cross and SEMA, no other aid 
organizations, domestic or international, or NGOs were in 
evidence at the center. 
 
¶4. (U)  According to Dr. Theo Osin Onyuko of the Cross River 
State Youth Assembly, Bassey Ekpo Bassey, the traditional 
ruler of Calabar, and Charles Ayassang, spokesmen for the 
Rivers State residents of the resettlement center, most of 
the displaced families from Bakassi have roots in other Niger 
Delta states and only moved to Bakassi in the last few 
decades.  Ayassang said that most of the displaced families 
moved to Bakassi in the last half century.  (Note: Nigerians 
will customarily claim strong ties to their "home state" even 
several generations after leaving it for other regions. End 
Note.)  Assayang insisted that almost all residents at the 
center wish to return to these other states and not settle in 
Cross River State.  The crowd collected around Ayassang 
 
LAGOS 00000358  002 OF 002 
 
 
nodded in agreement with this statement. 
 
¶5. (U) Poloff and PolSpec then visited homes being built in 
Ekpri Ikang by Cross River State with federal money for 
people displaced from Bakassi.  The structures are small, 
one-story duplexes,each with a single room, bath and small 
kitchen. Total area was estimated at 50 square feet. 
Nigerians present claimed the houses were inadequate and they 
complained about lack of privacy and room for children. 
Ayassang stressed that his people were fishermen and did not 
want to live inland. He argued that rather than building 
houses for them inland in Cross River State, the Federal 
Government should give each family money to build their own 
home anywhere they wanted to live. 
 
¶6. (U) Comment: Either many of the former Bakassi refugees 
have already relocated on their own initiative, or there are 
other resettlement centers operating in other areas which the 
people at Ekpri Ikang did not know about or did not want to 
talk about. The people still at the center may be those who 
hope to get some kind of financial settlement from the 
federal or state government to compensate them for their 
move, whereas those who have already relocated may have 
stronger ties elsewhere in Nigeria or lower expectations for 
government support. The houses under construction do not 
appear to meet the needs of those in the resettlement center, 
and may act as an incentive for the displaced to seek 
permanent relocation elsewhere. End comment. 
BLAIR