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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001768 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, INR/AA, ECA; 
STATE PLEASE ALSO PASS TO USAID/AFR/WA (D. ALZOUMA) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SENV KTIP KPAO NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN NUGGETS -- SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 
 
¶1. (U) Mission Nigeria provides the following compilation of 
recent political, economic, and social developments not 
reported previously. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
DUTCH DELIVER DIGITAL EVIDENCE TRAINING 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Law enforcement and legal experts from the Netherlands 
trained Nigerian police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and 
jurists in collecting, authenticating, and using digital 
evidence in court under a Dutch-Nigerian cooperative 
agreement on identifying trafficked victims and prosecuting 
criminals.  The National Agency for the Prevention of 
Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) had organized the class to 
support the need for improved evidence techniques.  While 
Nigerian law does not currently allow use of digital 
information (photographs, electronic-mail messages, on-line 
bank statements, and so forth) as evidence in courts, Justice 
Minister and Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa pledged at 
the opening ceremony to reform evidence rules on digital 
materials to meet changes in the global economy.  Aondoakaa 
said he would seek help from western countries, including the 
U.S., to support additional training of Nigerian Police 
Forces.  Dutch Ambassador to Nigeria A. C Van der Wiel 
reported that Dutch police had recently published a book on 
"419 scams" (fraud) in Nigeria to be translated into English 
and shared with Nigerian police. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
USAID AGRICULTURE TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM DRAFT 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3. (U)  On September 21, U.S. Agency for International 
Development USAID - Nigeria submitted a draft implementation 
plan for a 34.25-million dollar Agriculture Transformation 
Program (ATP) using fiscal-year 2010 Food Security, trade, 
child survival, and PEPFAR funding.  The ATP implementation 
plan, encompassing the next phase of the inter-agency Global 
Food Security Response Program, seeks to increase 
agriculture-sector growth, leading to higher incomes, 
improved nutrition, and reduced hunger and poverty for one 
million Nigerians living below the poverty line.  The project 
will seek to improve the well-being of ten million Nigerians 
over four years under a significantly expanded program 
supporting Nigeria's Comprehensive African Agriculture 
Development Program.  During ATP implementation, USAID will 
collaborate with GON agricultural development programs and 
development partners, including the World Bank, African 
Development Bank, U.K. Department for International 
Development (DFID), and Canadian International Development 
Agency. 
 
------------------------- 
AFRICA AGRICULTURE DONORS 
------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) USAID re-convened (and will initially lead) the 
Agriculture Donors Working Group (ADWG) to discuss major 
agricultural policies and issues with GON leaders, coordinate 
donor support for implementing the Comprehensive African 
Agriculture Development Program, and improve overall 
coordination.  Other ADWG participants include the World 
Qcoordination.  Other ADWG participants include the World 
Bank, African Development Bank, and DFID.  The Food and 
Agriculture Organization has agreed to join the group, which 
will also invite others, including Canadian and Japanese 
development agencies. 
 
--------------------------- 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U)  Over 60 Muslim groups and leaders pledged support for 
Nigeria's Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, in an 
unprecedented show of support by an Islamic constituency for 
FOI reform.  With USAID help under a Pact grant, the Muslim 
League for Accountability (MULAC) (a national network of 
 
ABUJA 00001768  002 OF 003 
 
 
Islamic organizations that champions transparency and 
accountability) conducted a workshop September 9 to 10 in 
Abuja to sensitize civil society representatives in Nigeria's 
Islamic North on the bill's importance and to garner support. 
 Participants included groups involving youth, women, and 
persons with disabilities from several northern states.  The 
National Television Authority (NTA) and Kaduna's private TV 
station DITV provided coverage in English and Hausa. 
Prospects for this FOI bill, which the National Assembly 
approved in March, but then President Obasanjo did not sign, 
should improve with this support from northern civil society 
organizations. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
VIRGIN NIGERIA RE-BRANDS AS NIGERIAN EAGLE 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) Virgin Nigeria Airlines (VNA) Managing Director 
Captain Dapo Olumide announced September 17 that his company 
would immediately operate under the name Nigerian Eagle 
Airlines.  He revealed the new name and logo at a press 
conference in Lagos at which he outlined plans to raise funds 
through private placements in capital markets.  When VNA 
began in 2004, the UK's Virgin Atlantic Limited held 49 
percent of the shares and Nigerian institutional investors 
the remaining 51 percent.  Virgin Nigeria subsequently ran up 
a commercial debt of 228 million dollars and unpaid royalties 
of 11 million dollars.  In June, Virgin Atlantic announced 
divestment of shares in Virgin Nigeria, ordering the airline 
to stop using the Virgin brand. 
--------------------------------------------- - 
SUB-NATIONAL BONDS SET NIGERIA APART IN AFRICA 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7. (U) The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission 
(ICRC) and the World Bank held a financial sector roundtable 
September 18 to discuss "The Financial Appetite for Public 
Private Partnership (PPP) Infrastructure Financing in the 
Wake of Global Recession."  The World Bank's Peter Mousley 
said the successful issuance of sub-national bonds for 
infrastructure development sets Nigeria apart from other 
African countries.  He commended Lagos, Kwara, and Imo states 
for packaging attractive fixed rate bonds that hedged against 
economic and political risks.  Mousley claimed that borrowing 
through bonds provided a savings of four to seven percent for 
states over borrowing from commercial banks.  He predicted 
external debts and equity would remain the primary sources 
for PPP infrastructure financing in the near term. He urged 
governments, however, to create Viability Gap Funds as a 
cushion for PPP investors. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
PRISTINE WATER FROM SOLAR-POWERED WATER PUMP 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Water flowed for the first time September 17 from a 
solar-powered, 900-foot well in Kaima, Bayelsa State.  The 
Niger Delta Wetlands Center (NDWC), an NGO dedicated to 
pioneering sustainable development through renewable energy 
technology, won one of 25 Niger Delta Development Corporation 
Qtechnology, won one of 25 Niger Delta Development Corporation 
(NDDC) contracts to provide drinking water from solar-powered 
pumps.  NDWC personnel dug their well to a depth of 900 feet 
to access pristine, drinking-quality water -- unlike most 
wells in the Niger Delta dug to less than 100 feet and 
yielding only brackish, often contaminated, water.  Given 
that the well and its associated 20,000-liter storage tank 
met at most ten percent of the community's water needs, NDWC 
Executive Director Miriam Forbes Isoun asked inhabitants to 
reserve the new well for drinking water while using existing, 
shallow wells for other uses.  Isoun claimed that, due to 
inexperience, none of the other contractors engaged by NDDC 
to build solar-power wells had yet to meet with success. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
ASSISTANCE REQUESTED BY OIL SPILL AGENCY 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
ABUJA 00001768  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶9. (SBU) During a September 15 meeting with the Nigerian Oil 
Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), visiting State 
Department Nigeria Deputy Desk Officer, Economic Associate, 
and Economic Specialist inquired about the agency's mandates 
and vision.  NOSDRA Director General and Chief Executive 
Officer B. A. Ajakaiye described his agency as a young 
para-statal under the Environment Ministry with 
responsibility to monitor, detect, and respond to oil spills. 
 Praising past U.S. capacity-building help through the 
Science Fellow program, Ajakaiye requested additional 
assistance to strengthen the agency's early warning and 
emergency preparedness capabilities.  After 50 years of oil 
exploitation and neglect, he noted that the Delta region 
suffered from extensive oil pollution that severely affected 
the region's inhabitants.  He said NOSDRA, as a new 
organization (established in 2006), lacked capacity to 
address these challenges.  The Mission, which provided 
technical training for agency staff through the Science 
Fellow Program in early 2009, is arranging a Voluntary 
Visitors' program for NOSDRA management and National Assembly 
members with oversight responsibilities to acquaint them with 
a comprehensive early warning and crisis management system to 
manage oil spills and hazardous waste. 
 
----------------------------------- 
NIGERIAN POSITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) During a September 18 visit to the Environment 
Ministry's Climate Change Unit, visiting State Department 
Nigeria Deputy Desk Officer, Economic Associate, and Economic 
Specialist inquired about Nigeria's response to climate 
change and its preparations for the December 2009 Copenhagen 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 
(UNFCCC).  Unit Head Victor Fodeke said Nigeria's position 
would coincide with Africa's position towards climate change, 
which calls upon developed countries to provide significant 
financial and technical help to developing countries to 
mitigate and adapt to climate change.  Asserting that 
developing countries were not responsible for the effects of 
climate change, but remained the most vulnerable to its 
impact, Fodeke expressed interest in acquiring clean energy 
technology from the developed world, especially to address 
gas flaring.  Pointing out Nigeria's potential for clean 
development projects, he mentioned interest by countries such 
as China, India, and Israel in supporting clean development 
initiatives in Nigeria.  He requested U.S. technical 
assistance in conducting a feasibility study to assess 
opportunities for deploying clean development technologies in 
Nigeria as well as U.S. support for Africa's position at the 
upcoming UNFCCC summit. 
 
¶11. (U) Embassy and Consulate General Lagos collaborated on 
this telegram. 
SANDERS