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FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
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INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0208
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RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002179 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO AF/W AND AF/EX 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM NI
SUBJECT: Nigeria: Visit to Bauchi State 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  DCM, Information Resources Officer (IRO) and Public 
Affairs Section Locally Employed Staffed (PAS LES) visited Bauchi, 
capital of Bauchi State in the north-eastern zone of Nigeria, 
October 29-30 for a Mission election-related panel discussion.  They 
had an opportunity to meet with several state government officials, 
call on officers at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, and 
visited several projects funded by the President's Emergency Plan 
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) DCM visited Bauchi to take part in a panel discussion on the 
role of civil society in elections.  This event was organized as 
part of the Mission's election related activities by the Professor 
Iya Abubakar Community Resource Center (CRC) - originally funded by 
USG under the former EDDI program - and the Mission's American 
Corner in Bauchi.  Also, participating on the panel were Joshua 
Dongo Kushee, who is active on issues relating to peaceful elections 
and conflict resolution, and Lucius Ahamdi Ihemee, a former 
journalist, election activist and official at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa 
University.  The panel participants and the members of the audience 
of some 70 persons, primarily men, offered a number of critical 
observations on the conduct of the 2007 elections in Nigeria. 
Several noted proudly that the 2007 elections, at least at the local 
level, had been fairly free and transparent.  Alhaji Isa Yuguda, a 
former Minister of Transportation in the Administration of former 
President Olusegun Obasanjo, ran for Governor as the candidate for 
All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) when the People's Democratic Party 
(PDP) declined to support him.   According to those present, efforts 
by the PDP to hijack those elections were foiled by the citizenry, 
who organized spontaneously to ensure ballots were cast and counted 
openly, resulting in Yuguda's victory. 
 
¶3. (U) The CRC (and the American Corner it hosts) is housed in the 
state library, and we observed during a tour that these facilities 
appear well maintained, well run and heavily patronized.  The CRC 
maintains an active information and communication technology 
training program for state government workers, women, youth, street 
children and others to large areas of northern Nigeria including 
Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states, in addition to 
Bauchi. 
 
¶4. (U) During a courtesy call on Deputy Governor Garba Muhammad 
Gadi, DCM offered compliments for the CRC.  The Deputy Governor 
noted that most of the initial funding for the center came from the 
US Government and made a general request for more US assistance. 
(Note: The CRC is a project of the Education for Development and 
Democracy Initiative (EDDI), an interagency partnership of the State 
Department, USAID, Peace Corps and the Departments of Education and 
Agriculture, with collaboration from African public and private 
sectors.  End note.).  The remainder of the meeting was dominated by 
a discussion of US visa procedures. 
 
¶5. (U) At an October 29 dinner Muhammad B. Jibrin, State 
Commissioner for Higher Education who had been on the job only a few 
months, described the state's efforts to improve the lives of its 
citizens through education, noting that Bauchi last year had sent 20 
students to train as pilots in Florida; was about to send 20 more to 
study petroleum engineering at Texas A&M University; and had 
concluded an agreement with an Egyptian university to train 50 
doctors.  He was to accompany the first tranche of 10 medical 
students, all women, to Cairo in a few days.  In exchange for their 
medical education, the doctors would have to work one year for 
Bauchi state for every year of training paid for by the state.  The 
pilots and petroleum engineers (who utilized post's Education 
Advisory Center) have no such requirements to fulfill and represent 
the state's investment in individuals so that they have decent job 
prospects in Nigeria.  (Note:  Jibrin himself received flight 
training in the US and worked previously as an airline pilot.  He 
was appointed to his current position based on his work at the 
Ministry of Transportation during Governor Yuguda's tenure there.). 
Suleiman Bogoro, a professor at Balewa University's animal 
production program, but better known to us for his work with the 
Forward in Action for Education, Poverty and Malnutrition NGO, 
commented that one of the Governor's wives had taken a special 
interest in basic education, which was helping to focus attention on 
the abysmal rate of attendance at primary schools by girls. 
 
¶6. (U) During a brief courtesy call on the leadership of Abubakar 
Tafewa Balewa University on October 30,  we discussed ways the 
University could link up with American counterparts to improve 
library operations, as well as plans to expand the English Access 
Microscholarship Program to the University's international school, 
should funding become available.  (Note:  This program provides 
tuition to needy high school students at secondary schools 
associated with universities in Zaria and Kano cities in order to 
assist them acquire a comprehensive education and improved English 
language skills). 
 
ABUJA 00002179  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) This trip ended with a visit to a maternity clinic and a 
community which receive PEPFAR funding from the RAHAMA Women 
Development Center through the Centre for Development and Population 
Activities (CEDPA), a USAID implementing partner.  RAHAMA organizes 
a positive living project in ten communities in Bauchi designed to 
improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS by 
increasing access to palliative care and other services.  Women in 
the community underscored the importance of the support groups 
organized by RAHAMA in breaking down stigmas HIV/AIDS victims 
confront.  In a discussion about immunization rates, the leader of 
the community described his support for immunization efforts, 
including for polio eradication, and showed off several certificates 
he had received for ensuring high coverage rates in his area. 
 
SANDERS