US embassy cable - 04LAGOS469

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 LAGOS 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
LONDON FOR GURNEY, PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, KWMN, EINV, ECON, PINR, NI 
SUBJECT: CROSS RIVER AND AKWA IBOM:  WAITING PEACEFULLY FOR 
DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY 
 
REF: 2003 LAGOS 2293 
 
1. (U) Summary.  On a recent familiarization visit to the 
southeastern States of Cross River and Akwa Ibom, PolOffs 
found officials with many plans for economic development in 
the region.  All are targeting agriculture and tourism as a 
way to diversify and lessen dependence on income from oil. 
Private citizens are forming and funding social service 
organizations to provide services the new democratically 
elected governments can not.  There was no evidence that four 
years of civilian government after a decade of military rule 
has improved the quality of life of the average citizen in 
these States. End summary. 
 
Calabar - The famous Obudu Ranch and the infamous Charles 
Taylor 
 
2. (SBU) The Cross River region, renowned for its beauty and 
bio-diversity, has been a definable area of Nigeria since 
pre-colonial time.  Its population of around two million 
ethnic Efiks, Ejagham and Bekwara has not migrated to other 
regions nor mixed with other ethnic groups.  Though the 
actual borders have varied, there has been a Cross River 
State since Nigerian independence in 1960 and its capital has 
always been the ancient trading city of Calabar.  One of 
Cross River's claims to fame these days is the Obudu Cattle 
Ranch, established in 1951.  The "Ranch" is the State's 
often-touted hope for the development of a revenue-generating 
tourist industry sufficient to relieve its dependence on oil 
income.  Calabar was most recently in the news because it is 
the place the Government of Nigeria (GON) offered as asylum 
to the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor.  Taylor 
has been charged with committing war crimes against Liberia 
and other African countries.  However, PolOffs visited Cross 
River State the week of February 9, and saw neither the 
"Ranch" nor Charles Taylor.  In fact, the universal responses 
to our questions about the whereabouts or future of Taylor in 
Nigeria, were averted eyes, uneasy laughter and attempts to 
direct the conversation elsewhere -- to the "Ranch", for 
instance. 
 
But what have you done for me lately? - A meeting with the 
Speaker of the Assembly 
 
3. (SBU)  PolOff and PolSpec met with Cross River Speaker of 
the State House of Assembly, the Hon. Bassey Eko Ewa, Esq., 
and several officials in charge of State Ministries. 
Officials in charge of agricultural development did not 
attend, and the Speaker told us that there is no separate 
ministry for tourism.  At the end of prepared welcoming 
remarks, the Speaker turned to what the USG could do for 
Cross River.  He said the State would be pleased to send 
Assembly Members to participate in democracy-building 
seminars in the US, or any exchange program for legislators 
between our two countries.  He said there had been no 
follow-up to a 1999 USAID-sponsored democracy workshop and 
seminar in which Cross River legislators had participated and 
that they had found very useful.  He then asked a public 
affairs official to take over the briefing.  This official 
gave us a summary of the State government's plans for the 
next four years.  He said Cross River suffers from an 
unemployment rate of around 50% which the administration of 
Governor Donald Duke plans to address mainly through 
agricultural development.  The government wants to promote a 
return to "money crops" such as palm oil nuts and rubber that 
were profitable for Cross River in the distant past.  Also 
encouraged is the planting of potentially lucrative new crops 
such as pineapple.  The government has announced it will 
provide "soft money" (low/no interest, easy repayment) 
micro-loans to unemployed men and women, as well as free 
fertilizer to jump-start its agricultural plans.  The 
government plans to focus also on security to entice private 
investors.  The Polytechnic Training College in Calabar has 
been upgraded to University status (complete with medical and 
law schools).  This official predicted that future graduates 
of the University would find jobs created by the private 
investors enticed to Calabar by the improved security. 
 
4. (SBU) Cross River is, like the rest of Nigerian States, 
dependent for its operating budget on the Federal 
Government's allocation to it of a share of national oil 
revenues.  Not surprisingly, Cross River officials claim 
their allocation is insufficient and the smallest in the 
nation.  In addition, the State wants to address another 
problem plaguing the Nigerian economy: there are almost no 
good jobs in the private sector, so most of the work force 
works for the government or goes into the military.  The 
State has two top priority projects to address these 
problems.  It is developing a free trade zone about five 
kilometers outside the city of Calabar.  The project is named 
"Tinapa" which means "fun and leisure" in the local Efik 
language and is expected to bring in about 300 jobs.  In 
addition, a large part of the current budget is reportedly 
devoted to the promotion, maintenance and further development 
of the Obudu Ranch. which everyone in Cross River hopes will 
bring in additional private sector investment and jobs. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment.  Tourism, as a way to diversify away from a 
dependence on oil, may be a non-starter for Cross River 
(reftel).  There is no capital investment in capacity 
(hotels, motels, restaurants etc.), in infrastructure 
(reliable electricity, potable water, passable roads), and no 
trained labor pool or training currently available.  The 
recently upgraded University of Calabar, like every other 
university and technical school in Nigeria, has no courses in 
hotel management, culinary arts, or travel and leisure 
services.  PolOffs spent two nights in the best hotel in 
Calabar.  Every room we saw was dirty, fixtures were hanging 
from walls, faucets leaked rusty water, and it was obvious 
that nothing had been properly repaired or replaced in years. 
 Not one single item on the breakfast menu was available at 
the hotel "restaurant", the tablecloths were dirty from the 
previous night's dinner customers (and stayed dirty for our 
two day stay), and managers as well as servers were obviously 
untrained. 
 
6. (SBU) Comment contd.  We also visited a fish farm and 
outdoor restaurant built a few years ago by a local 
physician.  Half a dozen grounds keepers were languidly 
raking up the few pieces of debris on the paths through this 
attractive, garden-like setting.  The actual ponds where the 
fish breeding is done and that supply the restaurant were so 
stagnant and choked with algae that we could not see the fish 
until one of the grounds keepers threw crumbled crackers in 
the water.  Then hundreds of fish, so many that they appeared 
to be one animal, boiled to the surface of the green and 
slimy water.  We also visited the Calabar National Museum, 
which is well-kept and housed in the former residence of the 
colonial governor.  After waking up the two attendants dozing 
in the afternoon heat in the gift shop, we noted that the 
last visitor had signed the guest book four month prior. 
There was a two month gap between him and the next previous 
visitor. 
 
7. (U) Comment contd.  Two weeks after our visit, newspapers 
reported that the federal Nigerian Tourism Development 
Corporation (NTDC) had been demanding payment of "license 
fees" from Cross River hotels and restaurants.  Governor 
Donald Duke issued a statement saying that "henceforth no 
hotelier or hospitality operator...should pay monies...to 
(the NTDC) until further instructions are received from the 
newly established Cross River State Tourism Board which is 
the body regulating tourism and hospitality business in the 
State."   End comment. 
 
A few good women 
 
8. (U) In addition to familiarization with the region, a goal 
of the visit was to establish or re-establish contact with 
NGOs in the area.  PolOffs visited the Director of the Women 
in Detention Rights Initiative (WDRI), Margaret Okopko. 
Okopko is a practicing lawyer and was recently named a 
Special Advisor to the Governor for Women's Affairs working 
with the State's First Lady on these issues.  She told us 
that she started WDRI in 1999 and has, with occasional 
contributions from friends, funded it almost 100 per cent 
with her own money since then.  She says that, five years 
ago, she was visiting a (male) client in a Calabar jail when 
she heard a baby crying.  She went looking for the source of 
the crying and discovered a woman and infant sitting on the 
floor in the hallway of one of the cell blocks.  The woman 
told her that her husband had her arrested for domestic 
violence, and she and her child had been sleeping and sitting 
in the hall for three days.  Okopko left, rallied a group of 
her friends, and went back two days later to help the woman. 
This was the beginning of WDRI.  She, and her staff of three, 
try to provide free legal services in six southeast States. 
Currently there are about thirty women detained in their 
region; five in and around Calabar.  She says the 
organization wants to expand and enhance its services, and 
especially to develop educational programs that will change 
the treatment of Nigerian women accused of crime.  Okopko 
says that a woman charged with a crime can be incarcerated 
indefinitely and will certainly, immediately, and probably 
permanently, be ostracized.  This happens without formal 
charges, trial, conviction or any other examination of facts. 
 Okopko would, obviously, like help funding her 
organization's activities, and we advised her to submit 
program proposals for consideration. 
University of Calabar 
 
9. (U) The University of Calabar has a large and well 
maintained campus and boasts a student population of more 
than 15,000.  We met with Georgette Antigha, who manages the 
University's health education programs dealing with HIV/AIDS, 
STDs, teen pregnancy, and illegal drug use. She is also a 
Professor of Theater Arts in the Drama Department.  Antigha 
said the University program started in 1991 with funding from 
several sources, including UNICEF and USAID.  She said that, 
since the first Nigerian HIV/AID case was found in Cross 
River, programs like the one at the University are accepted 
and have benefited from high visibility early on.  At one 
point, the program was reaching thirty new students per week. 
 Funding began to dry up in 1999 and now the program reaches 
only about sixty students per year.  To maximize the impact 
of the program, Antigha says they have revamped the program 
to a "train the trainers" format.  Students volunteer and pay 
a token fee for the training.  She said she would like to see 
the program reach even more university students than it did 
in the beginning, as well as extend to secondary students. 
We encouraged her to submit program proposals. 
 
Akwa Ibom - More good women 
 
10. (U) Akwa Ibom was part of Cross River until it became a 
State in 1987.  The majority of its population of about three 
million are ethnic Ibibio, Annang and Oron, which lends logic 
to separating it from the administrative control of members 
of the three different ethnic groups that make up the 
population of Cross River.  Akwa Ibom is also one of the 
oil-producing Delta States that has a sea coast as its 
southern border.  In addition to its federal allocation of 
revenues from on-shore production, the recent GON move to 
allow the States a greater share in off-shore production will 
add significantly to Akwa Ibom's operating funds.  Our 
contact in Akwa Ibom, Comfort Umanah, is a young, energetic 
union leader.  She is an organizer and representative for the 
State's radio and television workers, and very well known to 
State officials up to and including the Governor. 
 
11. (U) We met with Deputy Majority Whip of the State House 
of Assembly Mabel Udongwo who is also chairperson of the 
Assembly Committee on Women, Children and the Media.  Udongwo 
lamented the fact that there are few women in politics 
nationally as well as in Akwa Ibom.  She said this was due 
more to cultural factors than to lack of financial backing. 
Although women are a majority of the Nigerian population, 
fifty percent of them are illiterate, and most girls, 
particularly in the villages, are not encouraged to aspire 
beyond an elementary education.  In addition, most Nigerians 
consider politics a violent business for men only, and few 
husbands would encourage their wives to enter the political 
arena.  Politics for  Udongwo, however, is a family affair. 
Mr. Udongwo is a Local Government (LG) Chairman and 
encouraged his wife, then working as a professor of 
management at the Polytechnic Institute, to run for LG 
office.  She says she saved for ten years to finance her 
campaign herself because she wanted to "be where the action 
is."  She ran twice and lost, but on her third try she aimed 
higher and won a seat in the House of Assembly.  She has 
formed her own NGO, Women in Politics, because she says 
"Women are more honest and sincere than men and, thus, are 
able to fight corruption better."  Udongwo says she has 26 
local women ready and able to run for LG office on March 27, 
and her aim is to get at least ten women into the House of 
Assembly in the 2007 elections.  Her focus has been on 
grassroots issues such as poverty, potable water, reliable 
electricity, good roads, and she has sponsored the State's 
first agricultural development bill. 
 
The "Bag Man" 
 
12. (SBU) The Governor's Political Advisor, Udo Ekpengyong, 
could not tear himself away from the televised quarterfinal 
of the All-Africa Soccer Championships to talk with us very 
long.  When he did, he had several long-standing complaints 
about Mobil Oil Company's operations in the State that he 
wanted USG help in resolving.  According to Ekpengyong, Akwa 
Ibom had attracted the oil companies because it can produce 
at least two thousand barrels per day and has no political or 
security problems.  (Comment.  Actually, Mobil reported that 
its Akwa Ibom operations produced over 500,000 barrels per 
day in 2003. End comment.)  He complained that Mobil has 100 
percent of its operations in Akwa Ibom, yet has never fully 
compensated the State for environmental damage caused by 
those operations.  In addition, Mobil keeps its office and 
in-country staff in Lagos.  Ekpengyong says Mobil should move 
all staff, administration, and the jobs they engender to Akwa 
Ibom.  He continued saying that, in addition to moving jobs 
from Lagos, Mobil needs to offer scholarships to Akwa Ibom's 
restless, unemployed youth.  Without this "encouragement" and 
hope for a brighter future, the youths might "explode" in 
violence and unrest, making it difficult to do business in 
Akwa Ibom. When asked what are the most pressing political 
issues on which he was advising the Governor, Ekpengyong said 
there are no pressing political issues in Akwa Ibom at this 
time.  He said there was no problem with the 2003 elections 
and the State is not adding new LGs, so there will be no 
problem with the 2004 elections.  He ended our meeting saying 
that the Governor, also, is focused on grassroots issues such 
as electricity, clean water, and fighting corruption.  He 
said that all day, from very early in the morning, he had 
been seeing supplicants in his office and been giving out 
money to help the people. 
 
The Speaker is upbeat 
 
13. (SBU) Affable House Speaker Nelson A. Efiong cut short a 
committee meeting to meet with us late in the afternoon on 
our last day in the Southeast.  He told us straight-away that 
his wife and children are American citizens and that, as Mrs. 
Efiong had said she never wanted to live in Nigeria, both she 
and the children were living in the US.  Efiong said he and 
his wife had met and married while they were in college in 
Texas.  Both were settled into careers in the US when 
governor Victor Attah asked him to return and be a part of 
his government.  Efiong said the Governor had been stymied in 
his first term by "disgruntled losers", but now the 
administration is moving on important issues such as 
streamlining the civil service, internal security, building 
and maintaining infrastructure, agricultural development, and 
encouraging private investment in the State.  He proudly 
noted that the Champion Beer Company, once a major employer 
in the capital city of Uyo, had recently been bought by an 
Indian group.  He said that the Champion factory has resumed 
production and local distribution, and planned national 
distribution by the end of 2004.  In addition, he said that 
the Meridian Hotels are committed to developing the Nwaniba 
Tourist Center on the sea coast.  Plans for the Tourist 
Center include a five-star hotel. 
 
Politics - No problem 
 
14. (U) Although several states are still wrestling with the 
local government issue, Efiong said Akwa Ibom does not have 
this problem.  The State set up its LGs using the 
parliamentary system rather than a presidential system. 
According to Efiong, this is a more efficient and less 
expensive way to run the LG system, and it insures more State 
oversight of how the LGs are run.  On the question of whether 
the State would create new LGs, he said that the recent 
federal decision on the on-shore off-shore allocation of oil 
revenues would bring more money into the State, thus doing 
away with the need for additional LGs.  Efiong said the 
Governor wants the people of Akwa Ibom to see the "dividends 
of democracy" in a government that serves the people and 
meets their needs.  The administration is interested in U. S. 
seminars, workshops, and exchange programs for legislators. 
 
15. (SBU)  Comment.  It is becoming clearer that, after years 
of watching military dictators and their cronies loot the 
national treasury, most Nigerians believed that the way to 
"spread the wealth" and "get a piece of the action" is to put 
on the trappings of democratic government.  Talking to second 
term officials is "deja vu all over again."  Most have spent 
the past four years of elected government building mansions, 
stashing cash and paying off past and future supporters. 
Most still spout grandiose plans for future development and 
better lives for citizens, but country-wide the roads are in 
terrible shape, teachers at every level are not paid and 
constantly on strike, electricity is unavailable or 
unreliable, and even in the major cities drinking water is 
delivered by truck -- and only to those who can afford it. 
Some States have passed agricultural development legislation, 
but none of the officials we spoke to could point to a single 
State-funded agricultural project.  Every official we have 
spoken to has put a high priority on developing tourism to 
generate jobs and revenue, but none could cite ancillary 
development necessary to a successful tourism industry.  By 
the 2007 general elections, Nigerians will have waited eight 
years for the "dividends of democracy" to make a difference 
in the quality of life of the average citizen.  Those 
elections will tell what type civil society Nigerians want. 
 
GREGOIRE