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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 LAGOS 000182 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS NSC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM EPET ECON KDEM NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: CONSUL GENERAL MEETS WITH UNITED NIGER 
DELTA ENERGY,DEVELOPMENT AND SECURITY STRATEGY ORGANIZATION 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 601 
     ¶B. ABUJA 493 
     ¶C. LAGOS 014 
     ¶D. 08 LAGOS 509 
 
Classified By: Consul General Donna M. Blair for Reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: On March 17, Consul General met with Tony 
Uranta (protect), Executive Director for the new United Niger 
Delta Energy, Development and Security Strategy (UNDEDSS) 
organization. Uranta, who coordinated the 2007 African 
Democratic Congress (ADC) party presidential campaign of 
Patrick Utomi, head of the Lagos Business School's Center for 
Applied Economics, said UNDEDSS is a vehicle through which 
the numerous South-South ethnic groups, elders, youths and 
other civil society groups can speak with one voice. UNDEDSS 
is now planning a peace conference in Port Harcourt, on a 
date as yet undetermined, to establish the conditions for 
peace in the Niger Delta; the armed groups will participate, 
on the condition that there is international involvement in 
the conference.  (Note: The peace conference is not related 
to the April economic summit planned by Utomi on behalf of 
the South-South governors. End Note) According to Uranta, 
UNDEDSS has commitments from high profile international 
actors such as Eli Wiesel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to 
participate. Uranta told the Consul General that he hopes 
that the United States will attend the conference, if only in 
observer status, as well as consider partnering in some way 
such as helping build capacity for states and civil society. 
(Comment: UNDEDSS is a new organization and is making an 
effort to reach out to civil society in an effort to bring 
peace to and reduce suffering in the Niger Delta; they are 
thinking about how to provide an enabling environment to 
promote stability in that troubled region. This is the third 
time in as many weeks that either individuals or groups have 
reached out to discuss Niger Delta peace issues with the U.S. 
Mission. Utomi, who met with the Ambassador on March 23, 
UNDEDSS and the Ijaw Youth Council representatives who met 
with the Consul General on March 30 (Septel) have all 
indicated their frustration at failure of the GON to act. 
The new Minister of the Niger Delta Ministry told UK High 
Commissioner and Ambassador (Ref B) that amnesty will very 
much be on the table for in-house planning, but we have yet 
to see any tangible action.  Meanwhile, as reported Ref A, 
President Yar'Adua mentioned the possibility of amnesty for 
militants in his discussions with PDP leaders. End Comment.) 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  At his request, United Niger Delta Energy, 
Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS) Executive Director 
Tony Uranta met March 17 with Consul General; Pol-Econ Chief 
was notetaker.  Uranta ran the 2007 African Democratic 
Congress (ADC) party presidential campaign of Patrick Utomi, 
head of the Lagos Business School's Center for Applied 
Economics and former Volkswagen Nigeria executive Patrick 
Utomi.  In introducing his association with Utomi, Uranta 
said Utomi knew he didn't have a prayer of winning the race, 
but both he and Uranta wanted to show the Nigerian people how 
a campaign could be focused on issues of public policy, 
rather than on the purely political and rent-seeking aspects 
that consume Nigerian political life.  According to Uranta, 
Utomi's campaign resulted in an unusual indicium of success: 
President Yar'Adua based his Seven Point Agenda on Utomi's 
platform.  Following the campaign, Uranta said, Utomi and he 
began to focus on the Niger Delta, which they see as the 
central issue in Nigeria. 
 
Groups Unite S-S Civil Society, Elected Officials 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶3.  (C)  Until recently, the only means through which the 
Niger Delta could make itself heard, Uranta said, was guns 
and dynamite.  Now, however, UNDEDSS unites and provides a 
voice for all of Niger Delta civil society, including the 
Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ebibio and other ethnic groups that 
never before spoke with one voice (Ref C), Uranta said.  In 
addition, on the government side, the South-South Economic 
Forum (SSEF), which began as an organization of the Governors 
of the states of the South-South geopolitical zone, now 
includes all the National Assembly members and State Assembly 
 
LAGOS 00000182  002 OF 004 
 
 
members from the states of the South-South geopolitical zone 
(Ref A); this greatly expands the group's potential political 
clout and provides a platform from which they can speak with 
one voice, Uranta said.  When Afenefere, the socio-political 
organization for the Yoruba South-West geopolitical zone, or 
Ohanaeze, the socio-political organization for the Igbo 
South-East geopolitical zone, take a position on an issue, 
all parties and their elected officials in the zone base 
their actions on the socio-political group's ideas, Uranta 
claimed.  UNDEDSS and SSEF will now play similar roles, 
uniting the South-South for the first time. 
 
UNDEDSS Defeated Summit, Spurred Technical Committee 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶4. (C) Uranta claimed that he and Utomi and others involved 
in UNDEDSS organized the outcry against the poorly planned 
Niger Delta Summit last July.  They also organized calls for 
creation of the Niger Delta Technical Committee, of which 
Uranta was a member, as a more effective vehicle for 
proposing reforms, he said. UNDEDSS members made substantial 
contributions to the work of the Technical Committee. 
(Comment: Uranta has told Pol-Econ Chief in prior 
conversations that he is working on getting the Federal 
Government to issue a white paper outlining elements of the 
Technical Committee Report for implementation.  End Comment) 
 UNDEDSS has been funded by private contributions of Niger 
Deltans with deep pockets, including Urhobo oil magnate Oscar 
Ibru, former Governor of Cross River State Donald Duke and 
Rivers State politician and oil executive Benson Lulu-Briggs. 
 
Peace Conference Planned 
------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (C) UNDEDSS is now planning an international peace 
conference (Note:  Uranta said that the peace conference is 
entirely separate from the April South-South Economic Summit, 
planned for Tinapa in April. (Septel) End Note), to be held 
at an as yet undetermined time, that will bring everyone 
together to focus on resolution of the Niger Delta crisis, 
Uranta said.  The armed groups have set a single condition 
for attendance, that is, that the international community 
also participates.  Uranta has contacted Coventry Cathedral 
Centre for Reconciliation, which has already issued a report 
(Septel) on "Potential for Peace and Reconciliation in the 
Niger Delta."  Uranta said that they engaged the Petra 
Conference of Nobel Laureates, through the intervention of 
Eli Wiesel.  Through Bishop Desmond Tutu, Uranta claimed to 
have obtained the commitment of The Elders, the international 
group whose members include former President Jimmy Carter, 
Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Mary Robinson and Aung San Suu 
Kyi, to support the conference.  According to Uranta, the 
Federal Government is the only entity that is balking, but 
Uranta hopes that other countries will use their good offices 
to make the Federal Government more interested in the 
conference.  Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has 
agreed that he will host the peace conference in Port 
Harcourt.  Nobel Laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka, with 
whom Uranta has a long association and whom he calls "his 
mentor", will also participate in the conference once the 
Federal Government's participation is assured, Uranta said. 
 
 
¶6.  (C)  On March 19, Uranta said, UNDEDSS will outline the 
peace conference concept to the Vice President and to the 
Minister of the Niger Delta (Note: During a March 23 meeting 
with Ambassador (Septel), Utomi said that former Cross Rivers 
Governor Donald Duke met with the President on March 19 to 
discuss amnesty and other elements involved in resolving the 
Niger Delta crisis. End Note.) Throughout April, other 
members of UNDEDSS, all chosen by the South-South Governors 
for this purpose, will meet with the heads of the security 
services and the military to get their buy-in. Uranta told 
the Consul General that he hopes that the United States will 
attend the conference, for which no date has as yet been 
fixed, if only in observer status, and entertain the 
possibility of partnering in some way, perhaps in helping 
build capacity for states and civil society. Consul General 
thanked Uranta for keeping the U.S. Mission informed of plans 
for and progress on the conference, and noted that security 
 
LAGOS 00000182  003 OF 004 
 
 
concerns make attendance at Port Harcourt events difficult. 
Nonetheless, the U.S. Government wants to be supportive of 
efforts to bring peace to the region. 
 
Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, Amnesty 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶7.  (C) If the youths in the Niger Delta are to drop their 
arms, there must first be a framework within which all 
militants can participate, Uranta said.  There must be an 
agreement to grant amnesty, he said, and arrangements made so 
that youths can truly reintegrate into society. (Note: In a 
March 16 meeting, the Minister of the Niger Delta Ministry 
told UK High Commissioner and Ambassador that amnesty and a 
program of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration 
(DDR) were on the Ministry's agenda, but we have yet to see 
any tangible progress. End Note) After eight years in the 
creeks, with no solid education to begin with, armed youths 
are traumatized.  They must be trained for some type of work 
which will allow them to leave militancy and earn a living. 
This was accomplished in South Africa, and in Sierra Leone, 
so these models can be replicated in Nigeria, he said. 
Finally, there must be a way to discriminate between true 
militants and youths who have never been armed.  Otherwise, 
youths are so hungry for training and the prospect of a job 
that they will fake militancy just to be able to participate 
in the program.  For example, Uranta said, there have been 
many people who have never been militant who have 
participated in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) 
funded training on Martin Luther King's principles of 
non-violence conducted by the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony 
in Nigeria (FEHN.) The FEHN training can be useful, but it is 
operating outside a comprehensive framework, Uranta said. 
 
DESOPADEC Model Must Spread to Other States 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) Commenting on the comparative peace currently being 
experienced in Delta State, Uranta said that Delta State is 
quiet because Governor Uduaghan has taken the advice of the 
communities and established the Delta State Oil Producing 
Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), which receives 50 
percent of the state's oil derivation for use in developing 
the state.  In addition, the Governor appointed as the 
DESOPADEC head the "canny politician and grassroots 
operative" Chief Wellington Okirika, who "has not 
disappointed."  "The people are involved in their own 
development, and are seeing more and more results every day," 
Uranta said. (Note: We have also heard that Governor Uduaghan 
has used an amount of his oil derivation to pay off senior 
militants to keep the peace, so all the funds are not going 
to development. End Note.) While UNDEDSS has tried to promote 
the DESOPADEC model in other states, Uranta said, only Edo 
and Ondo States currently have established oil-producing area 
development councils (OPADECS), both less successful than 
Delta State's OPADEC.  Many Governors do not want their 
states to be secure; they have an interest in insecurity that 
stems from the enormous security funds they receive from the 
Federal Government, and, in many cases from their own direct 
or indirect involvement in the criminality of the region. 
Although Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi is a good 
friend of his, Uranta believes he has "wasted billions of 
naira" on a Truth and Reconciliation Committee which has 
never had reconciliation as its purpose. (Note: Many people 
believe that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which 
has indicted former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, was a 
thinly-veiled attempt by Governor Amaechi to reduce his 
predecessor's power and overall influence in the state. End 
Note) Moreover, Uranta claimed, trying to improve security by 
deploying the military has been counterproductive.  "If 
people are cornered, they become desperate, and increasingly 
hostile", Uranta opined. 
 
UNDEDSS To Begin Budget Monitoring 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) UNDEDSS also wants to begin monitoring government 
budget processes to assure that monies for public purposes 
are well spent.  By itself monitoring budgets, and 
encouraging other civil society groups to do the same, 
 
LAGOS 00000182  004 OF 004 
 
 
UNDEDSS will encourage the Governors to spend public funds 
wisely. (Note: UNDEDSS is seeking training in budget 
monitoring, Uranta told Pol-Econ Chief in an earlier 
conversation. End Note) 
 
¶10.  (C) Comment: We believe UNDEDSS and SSEF are new 
organizations led by individuals who appear to have no 
financial or other interests beyond a desire to bring peace 
to and reduce suffering in the Niger Delta.  Uranta and Utomi 
are trying to address, in a systematic fashion, the 
fundamental barriers to peace in the Niger Delta.  Uranta's 
claim to have coordinated efforts to derail last year's Niger 
Delta Summit along with his support for the formation of the 
Niger Delta Technical Committee is a believable one, based on 
the strikingly similar terms in which a range of Niger 
Deltans spoke out on these issues.  We would note, however, 
that the Vice President's incompetence and the Yar'Adua 
government's overwhelming dysfunctionality also figured 
heavily in the failure of last year's Summit. The absence of 
a political framework for bringing about a real resolution of 
the problems of the Delta remains the biggest stumbling block 
in addressing the range of issues from development to 
security.  Nonetheless, we will want to monitor UNDEDSS and 
SSEF viability and any tangible outcomes that might develop 
from these conferences. End Comment. 
BLAIR