VZCZCXRO6368
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOS #0464/01 3260719
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210719Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL LAGOS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0312
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 9954
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH AFB UK
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000464 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV TBIO PHUM SOCI NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: NGO BRINGS URGENTLY NEEDED MEDICAL CARE 
TO NEGLECTED COMMUNITIES IN THE NIGER DELTA 
 
1.(U) Summary: On November 4 PolOffs met with Chris Ekiyor, 
Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council, who is also an oral 
surgeon bringing free and urgently needed health care to the 
Niger Delta with his partner Philip Ugbodaga through their 
NGO, Rural Africa Health Initiative (RAHI). The organization 
hopes to increase long-term sustainability of medical aid by 
equipping existing small hospitals in the region and 
providing staffing from the large pool of unemployed medical 
professionals in Nigeria. Because RAHI wishes to remain 
independent of Nigerian government funding, it is seeking to 
identify possible private or NGO donors of used medical 
equipment.  End Summary. 
 
2.(U) On November 4, Chris Ekiyor and his partner Philip 
Ugbodaga, both oral surgeons, told PolOffs they founded RAHI 
in 1999 to provide free medical care to people in the Niger 
Delta, who do not have access to or cannot afford medical 
care. (Note: Ekiyor is also Chairman of the Ijaw Youth 
Council, a graduate of the Federation for Ethnic Harmony in 
Nigeria's nonviolence training, and a former IVLP 
participant. End note.)  RAHI takes a team composed of 
medical professionals, who volunteer their services free of 
charge, into communities using a mobile clinic.  Team members 
spend the first day advertising their presence and services; 
on the following days they perform triage on the patients who 
come to them from the surrounding area, deciding which they 
can handle with the staff and facilities available, and which 
patients need to be stabilized for future treatment at a 
different location.  The treatment provided during the clinic 
frequently addresses medical problems that have been 
festering for years, Ekiyor said. 
 
RAHI Plans Upgrades for Niger Delta Hospitals 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3. (U) Ekiyor and Ugbodaga would like to increase the 
sustainability of activities by providing selected hospitals 
with used medical equipment from developed countries and 
staffing clinics with unemployed Nigerian medical 
professionals. RAHI has identified over 20 hospitals in rural 
communities suitable for this project.  All these facilities 
have been built, but lack both equipment and staff.  RAHI 
plans to start with a facility in Bayelsa State which has 
recently been refurbished by the Niger Delta Development 
Corporation (NDDC).  RAHI is seeking equipment from 
institutions which are modernizing their own equipment and 
would be prepared to donate the replaced equipment to the 
project.  RAHI anticipates paying for the transport of the 
equipment from the donor to the recipient hospital. Among the 
equipment needed are boat ambulances, life-support systems, 
and surgical theater machinery. 
 
Unemployed Nigerian Doctors to Staff Hospitals 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (U) Ekiyor and Ugbodaga want to make the refurbished and 
equipped facilities sustainable by tapping into the large 
pool of trained medical professionals in Nigeria who are 
currently unemployed.  RAHI expects to pay participating 
medical professionals only for their travel and expenses. 
However, Ekiyor and Ugbodaga are certain that the doctors 
would participate as a way to gain experience and to keep up 
their skills. 
 
¶5. (U) In addition, Ekiyor and Ugbodaga noted that there are 
more than 5,000 Nigerian medical professionals in the United 
States, many of whom they believe would be willing to come 
back and work in Bayelsa if security improved and if loans 
were available to help them establish private practice. 
Ugbodaga estimated that it costs a doctor 1.5 million naira 
(approximately USD 13,000), to set up a private medical 
practice in Nigeria, but Nigerian banks are reluctant to 
provide loans to doctors without collateral. 
 
¶6. (U) Ekiyor and Ugbodaga are attempting to identify 
potential donors of used medical equipment and partner 
hospitals in the United States and other developed countries. 
Ekiyor intends not to seek funding from Nigerian government 
sources because to do so would inhibit the NGO's 
 
LAGOS 00000464  002 OF 002 
 
 
independence, he believes. Although NDDC Managing Director 
Timi Alaibe has indicated interest in the project, Ugbodaga 
and Ekiyor are concerned that if NDDC were to become 
involved, the project would attain too high a profile and 
then others would try to find a way to profit from it. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  Ekiyor, a longstanding contact of the 
Lagos Pol-Econ Section, is a knowledgeable interlocutor on 
the Niger Delta. However, this is the first information Post 
has had concerning the breath of the work done by his medical 
NGO.  End Comment. 
BLAIR