US embassy cable - 02ABUJA1913

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2005 
TAGS: EFIN, PREL, KCRM, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN READOUT TO G-7 AMBASSADORS 
 
 
REF: ABUJA 1597 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY CDA ANDREWS.  REASON 1.5(B). 
 
 
1.  (C) Summary: The GON feels Africa needs more carrots and 
fewer sticks to advance development, NPC Commissioner Isaac 
Aluko Olokun told G-7 Heads of Mission in late May.  He urged 
greater understanding for Nigeria's institutional flaws and 
argued that NePAD should be a process, not an institution. 
He said African countries needed easier access to developed 
country markets and brushed aside our point about slow GON 
progress toward fulfilling AGO textile requirements, saying 
the West had "given" Nigeria democracy and would have to live 
with the results.  The GON clearly feels that we should not 
press it (or Africa as a whole) for immediate concrete steps. 
 Instead, the GON wants a dialogue in which the G-8 countries 
offer both incentives and a sympathetic ear.  Transmission of 
this message was inadvertently delayed.  End Summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Ambassador Isaac Aluko-Olukun 24 May briefed G-7 
Heads of Mission or charges (Russia not present) on the 
Maputo NePAD/G-8 discussions.  He was unhappy with G-8 
resistance to discussion of middle income country debt 
relief, the big issue for President Obasanjo.  He stressed 
that NePAD (New Partnership for African Development) should 
be a process, not an institution.  The issue of "NePAD 
compliance" made many Africans uncomfortable; they felt 
Baroness Amos's push for dealings only with those countries 
that are "compliant" was out of place.  President Obasanjo 
believed that Africa needed carrots, carrots, carrots, stick, 
but the G-8 seemed to have sticks, sticks, sticks, carrot in 
mind.  Africa also wanted more funds for infrastructure, 
Aluko-Olukun said. 
 
 
3.  (C) British Acting High Commissioner Charles Bird bluntly 
addressed the inadequacy of GON social spending (health and 
education) and pushed pack hard against the NePAD desire for 
"huge" infrastructure projects.  These had in the past 
generated "huge corruption."  Aluko-Olukun responded in very 
general terms ways and averred that the fight against 
corruption was a priority for the Obasanjo administration. 
He likened Nigeria to a loaded supertanker.  So many years of 
military rule had jaded the body politic and diminished its 
understanding of democratic mores.  The supertanker could not 
change course nimbly.  The G-8 should observe and appreciate 
the small signs of course adjustment, not expect new 
directions immediately. 
 
 
4.  (C) Changing the metaphor to foot travel, I commented 
that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single 
step.  As diplomats and official visitors to Nigeria's 
capital observed life, corruption (allocation of parkland to 
officials and political figures) and waste (convoys of 
14-plus vehicles ferrying governors around town) were daily 
evident.  These were powerful, negative symbols.  Could 
Aluko-Olukun offer one or two examples of what the GON was 
doing to combat corruption and eliminate waste?  Aluko-Olukun 
spoke eloquently but unspecifically about Obasanjo's strong 
opposition to corruption.  When Aluko-Olukun wound down, Bird 
repeated the earlier question.  The Nigerian official became 
defensive, but he eventually cited the establishment of the 
Independent Corrupt Practices Commission.  Huge gubernatorial 
convoys were wasteful, he agreed, but they were a product of 
gubernatorial vanity and excess.  The Federal Government 
could not be held responsible.  There needed to be "fiscal 
federalism" (compelling the states to generate more revenue 
internally) in order to instill responsibility, Aluko-Olukun 
concluded. 
 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT: The ICPC is underfunded, lacks prosecutorial 
powers and depends (for now) on U.S.-funded training for its 
staff.  In fact, the GON has taken a useful step to constrain 
corruption, the establishment of a value-for-money audit of 
major contracts called "due process."  Nevertheless, corrupt 
allocation of land within Abuja is an expensive and glaringly 
obvious symbol of the Obasanjo Administration's inability to 
get at the root of corruption.  Aluko-Olukun briefly sought 
to defend the practice, saying that Nigerian civil servants 
lacked adequate pensions and needed some means to support 
themselves in retirement.  He dropped that tack when body 
language made it clear that the diplomats around him were not 
sympathetic.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
6.  (C) Aluko-Olukun said there would be a gathering on the 
margins of the AFDB annual meeting in Addis Ababa to advance 
discussion on both the political and economic peer review 
mechanisms.  He did not suggest that final consensus would be 
reached.  He complained that Libya's Qadhafi was inciting 
other African Heads of State against Obasanjo's efforts to 
introduce greater transparency by caviling that they were 
stalking horses for neocolonialism.  Obasanjo needed strong 
support, not questions and skepticism, in order to make the 
peer review mechanism a reality. 
 
 
7.  (C) Africa civil society groups were also bedeviling the 
NePAD Heads of State, Aluko-Olukun continued.  They generally 
opposed engagement with the G-8.  Most Heads of State had the 
electoral mandates the NGOs lacked and were resolute about 
pursuing engagement, however.  Bird encouraged continued 
engagement with, and education of, the NGOs.  Aluko-Olukun 
agreed. 
 
 
8.  (C) Aluko-Olukun raised market access issues, worrying 
that increased U.S. farm subsidies could eventually reduce 
markets for African goods.  I pointed out that Nigeria's 
national legislature needed to make one minor change to a law 
in order to take an important step toward AGOA eligibility. 
Aluko-Olukun riposted that "you gave us democracy" and so had 
to live with the results.  Another participant asked what the 
GON was doing to educate legislators.  Aluko-Olukun replied 
that efforts were in train but that few Nigerian legislators 
were interested in NePAD.  South Africa was having a bit more 
success because its parliamentarians understood the potential 
of NePAD. 
 
 
9.  (C) COMMENT:  Many Nigerian Senators and House Members 
pursue personal interests to the near-exclusion of concern 
for the welfare of their fellow citizens -- a trait they 
share with many officials of the Executive Branch.  As 
Aluko-Olukun's brief foray into justifying nontransparent 
land-allocation practices suggests, changing these attitudes 
will indeed take time.  The GON apparently feels, probably 
from its very top, that the G-8 countries should demand fewer 
and less difficult concrete steps of struggling African 
countries.  Instead, we are asked to lend a sympathetic 
listening ear and to provide carrots (incentives) rather than 
to wield sticks.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
10.  (U) NOTE:  This message was prepared on May 28, 2002. 
Post regrets that an oversight inadvertently delayed its 
transmission. 
ANDREWS