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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFISS/COMUSNAVEUR NAPLES IT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000039 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2019 
TAGS: PGOV SENV SOCI NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: OVERCOMING ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS IN EDO 
 
REF: A. LAGOS 227 
     ¶B. LAGOS 285 
     ¶C. LAGOS 05 
     ¶D. LAGOS 08 
     ¶E. LAGOS 38 
 
Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C) Serious health risks and collapsed infrastructure are 
the legacy Governor Adams Oshiomhole (Action Congress - AC) 
inherited when he came to power in November 2008.  The 
Oshiomhole administration has developed comprehensive plans 
to address the inter-related problems, brought in competent 
contractors to conduct the construction necessary and started 
to enforce environmental laws.  Illegal logging is down and 
reforestation has begun.  Progress is visible but government 
officials are candid about the magnitude of the task still 
ahead; U.S. assistance was urgently requested.  This is the 
fourth and last in a series of cables assessing the 
performance of Governor Oshiomhole's administration roughly 
one year after it came to power in Edo State.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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DROWNING IN WASTE 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Benin City traditionally drowned in sewage every 
rainy season as a result of incompetent planning and 
corruption in the execution of city infrastructure projects, 
while the lack of proper waste management resulted in illegal 
waste dumps and created serious health hazards.  The drainage 
system did not provide proper run-off or allow secondary 
drains to empty into primary drains. Construction contracts 
awarded on the basis of patronage resulted roads that 
consisted of nothing more than a thin layer of tarmac on a 
dirt bed.  Dumps containing everything from electrical and 
medical waste to human bodies sprung up around the city, even 
in residential areas, while drainage canals were used as 
latrines. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Oshiomhole's Commissioner for Environment, Clem 
Agba, pointed out to PolOff in early December that the drains 
silted up because the thin layer of asphalt from improperly 
built roads rapidly disintegrated and the surface dirt from 
the roads washed into the drains each rainy season but these 
drains were not connected to any wider drainage system and so 
rapidly silted up entirely.  The silting problem was 
compounded by the use of drains as informal dumps and 
latrines by residents.  These drains rapidly filled with so 
much silt and rubbish that they became "land" on which people 
built shops crowding the streets while waste disposal next 
took the form of dumps that grew several stories high. 
 
----------- 
DIGGING OUT 
----------- 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Oshiomhole administration has de-silted 100 
kilometers of side drains, and initiated joint planning 
procedures between the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of 
Environment to enable the construction of a comprehensive 
drainage system that will funnel run-off out of the city 
altogether.  Agba noted that this has to start down-stream, 
where it is least visible, but said the administration would 
not bow to pressure to focus on "quick fix" remedies, but 
pursue a rational, long-term solution to the perennial 
problem. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The road construction contracted by the current 
administration must meet international standards for 
foundations, materials and drainage.  To date, 32 roads have 
been completed, although construction could not start until 
the end of the rainy season in October.  More roads are under 
construction, all on foundations of gravel with a thick 
(measured by city officials) layer of tarmac. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The city bulldozed dump sites which had previously 
 
LAGOS 00000039  002 OF 002 
 
 
contaminated the water, air and environment of surrounding 
residential areas and has relocated dumps outside of the 
city.  Forty-eight contracts have been awarded to waste 
management companies based on rigid but transparent 
requirements for removing, transporting and disposing of the 
waste using proper equipment to designated sites. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Agba lamented that the state is still far away from 
having a proper landfill much less a means of converting 
waste into "wealth" in terms of energy, fertilizer or other 
productive by-products.  Agba also spoke of the need to 
educate the population about the fundamentals of 
environmental pollution and hygiene to stop the widespread 
use of drains for human and other waste.  He hopes that 
lighting and beautification projects will start to build 
civic pride while fines and public service campaigns will 
gradually change attitudes and impact behavior. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGAL LOGGING, REFORESTATION 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The natural rainforests that once covered the state 
have largely disappeared so that now only 12 per cent of the 
state is forested.  The current administration has started 
enforcing existing laws and raised the fines associated with 
illegal logging, resulting in a 250 per cent increase in 
revenues collected from violators.  The state also launched a 
reforestation project aimed at planting one million trees by 
the end of 2012.  Two-hundred thousand trees were planted in 
2009, 250,000 are planned for 2010, 2011 and 2012 
respectively.  Because the forests are vital to stopping 
widespread erosion, the Ministry of Environment is attempting 
to find a balance between restoring native forests and 
planting species that grow rapidly. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (C) PolOff was shown a lengthy PowerPoint presentation 
including scores of photos and taken physically to a variety 
of sites across the city to assess the work done by the 
Oshiomhole administration.  PolOff also saw the TV commercial 
explaining the new waste collection system.  Discussions with 
Agba and his staff were candid and stressed the immense task 
still ahead.  Edo State asked urgently for U.S. help both 
with respect to "Methane to Markets" programs and in 
biotechnology to help reforest in an optimal manner.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
¶10.  (C) ConGen Lagos coordinated this telegram with Embassy 
Abuja. 
 
BLAIR