US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1258

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W, USAID/W FOR AFR/AA, CONSTANCE NEWMAN, 
AFR/WA, MICHAEL KARBELING, GH/AA, ANN PETERSON, GH/CH, 
SURVIVAL, HOPE SUKIN, OES/IHA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, SOCI, NI 
SUBJECT: POLIO:  A NIGERIAN SOLUTION 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 1185 
 
     B. ABUJA 1132 
     C. ABUJA 971 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN CAMPBELL FOR REASONS 1.5 (b) AND (d). 
 
1. (C)  SUMMARY:  The Kano State Governor termed the new 
polio vaccines safe at a July 15 meeting held in Kano.  A 
prelude to a public announcement that vaccinations can 
reconvene, we hope the announcement can come by this weekend 
but await the official signs.  Several northern politicians 
discussed the issue with the Ambassador the same day in 
Kaduna, agreeing that Shekarau was on shaky political terrain 
and that much work remained to be done to bring the public on 
board.  Despite the Ambassador's objections, these 
interlocutors were firm in their assessment that the 
arrogance and insensitivity of international health 
organizations and western donors to legitimate local concerns 
exacerbated the problems with the polio vaccination program. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (U)  Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau convened a 
meeting of local "opinion-formers" on the evening of July 15 
to discuss the results of the latest testing of polio 
vaccines for safety.  At the meeting, Shekarau announced that 
the technical committee confirmed the safety of the 
Indonesian-sourced polio vaccines.  His spokesman said that a 
public announcement would follow quickly, with vaccinations 
to start soon after, although no specific timeline was given. 
 In attendance at the meeting were businessmen, Muslim 
clerics, prominent politicians, the Chief Judge of the state 
and the Emir of Kano. 
 
3.  (C)  COMMENT:  While this announcement is welcomed, the 
lack of a firm timeline might be disturbing, given the number 
of times that the announcements have been imminent only to be 
delayed at the last minute.  While we have no reason to doubt 
the intent this time, the proof is in the pudding.  We 
believe the Governor's public announcement could come as 
early as this weekend, July 17-18.  END COMMENT. 
 
4.  (C) Ambassador met with several prominent politicians who 
regarded themselves as political allies of the Governor of 
Kano in Kaduna earlier the same day.  All agreed that 
"mischief makers" capitalized on the issue but several 
pointed to specific medical concerns that had not been 
addressed by the international community to the satisfaction 
of Nigerians.  All noted that the controversy had created a 
negative perception about the vaccine campaign throughout the 
north that was not limited to Kano State. 
 
5.  (C)  One, Suleiman Hunkuyi, the defeated ANPP 
gubernatorial candidate in Kaduna, cited a BBC program on 
polio that quoted families in both India and Nigeria saying 
the fear that it was a Western plot to sterilize the 
populations was the primary reason for not participating in 
the vaccinations.  He pointed out that the resumption of 
vaccinations would depend on the cooperation of local 
religious leaders and elites, the same ones that raised the 
alarm in the first place. 
 
6.   (C)  Another, Col. Hamid Ali (rtd.), Secretary of the 
Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) stated that the "legitimate 
concerns" leading to the current impasse had never been 
addressed.  Among the questions he raised were: 
 
--Why was estrogen found in some vaccines and not in others? 
 
--If estrogen was not necessary for the vaccines, why was it 
in any of them? 
 
--What is the validity of the WHO data claiming Kano to be 
the source of the recent polio cases? 
 
He concluded by questioning why the international health 
organizations and the donors, especially the U.S., had 
exerted so much pressure, both internal and external, when 
the preceding questions had not been answered.  He suggested 
that the lack of coherent responses in a public forum 
fostered suspicion among northerners.  He cited many 
well-known lapses in the conduct of medical trials, including 
the Tuskegee syphilis episodes and the Pfizer meningitis 
controversy in northern Nigeria, as having created the 
conditions for a conspiracy theory to develop around the 
polio issue. 
7.  (C)  Kaduna State Governor Makarfi echoed many of these 
themes in a separate meeting.  He placed the blame on 
academics as well as community and religious leaders. 
According to Makarfi, the strongest opposition to the 
campaign came from the School of Pharmacy in Zaria.  Contrary 
to reports, Makarfi claimed, Kaduna State had never suspended 
the vaccination program but instead made polio a voluntary 
part of the ongoing vaccinations. 
 
8.  (C)  All agreed that Shekarau was on politically shaky 
ground -- caught between domestic politics and international 
pressure -- and that his political future now depended on how 
the polio controversy was resolved.  The biggest danger, they 
said, was if the new vaccines were found to be contaminated 
after Shekarau and others attested to their safety. 
 
9.  (C)  COMMENT:  Based on the Ambassador's Kaduna 
interlocutors, opposition to the polio vaccination campaign 
in Kano State and throughout the north of Nigeria appears to 
be an amalgam of ignorance fed by snippets from sources 
ranging from the internet to the BBC.  It feeds on suspicion 
of "Western" vaccination campaigns which in turn is the 
product of a mixture of history and myth.  The Ambassador's 
interlocutors, all ostensibly pro-American establishment 
figures, were not swayed by the Ambassador's remonstrations 
and betrayed a sense that the west, especially the 
international health organizations, had been arrogant and 
insensitive to legitimate local concerns. 
CAMPBELL