US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1821

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 ABUJA 001821 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/PD ZABRISKIE; KOENGETER 
 
LAGOS FOR RSO, PAS 
IBB FOR VOA ENGLISH, HAUSA SERVICES TO AFRICA 
USEUCOM FOR PAO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, KPAO, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA PUBLIC DIPLOMACY INFLUENCE ANALYSIS 
 
Ref: State A) 033359, B) ABUJA 000680 
 
1.  Introduction: Nigeria is Africa's most populous 
nation and the central gravity for the continent's 
emerging democracies.  Nigeria's President Olusegun 
Obasanjo is the current Chair of the Africa Union, and 
with approximately 130 million people and still 
growing, Nigeria provides the largest share of 
peacekeeping personnel and logistics to most of 
Africa's hot spots.  Nigeria's size, diversity and 
economy have direct strong influence on its neighbors 
such as Chad, Niger, Benin, and Cameroon. The country 
has access to a complex array of media, foreign and 
domestic, electronic and print, as well as growing use 
of the Internet.  Nigerian public figures and opinion 
leaders utilize and are influenced by all forms of 
media and communication systems, but electronic media 
are most pervasive in Nigerian society and have the 
strongest reach to mass audiences. Free-to-air decoders 
that provide free Arabic-language satellite broadcasts 
from the Middle East, especially Al-Jazeera, has made a 
strong inroad into many northern Nigerian homes. 
Surveys have shown that about 67 percent of Nigerians 
get their news from radio, 20 per cent from television, 
10 per cent from newspapers and handbills, and 3 per 
cent from the Internet. Given the high reliance on 
electronic forms of media, the Nigerian Government has 
been reluctant to give up its control of national and 
state-level radio and television stations, but has 
largely ceded the print media to the private sector, 
which has surprisingly high number of daily and weekly 
newspapers competing for a comparatively small 
readership. 
 
2.   Press independence remains a work in progress, 
given the high degree of government control in the 
media.  Thus Nigerians rely heavily on foreign media 
outlets for information about world news and 
secondarily, Nigerian news.  Aware of the popularity of 
foreign media, Nigerian officials have voiced their 
displeasure and worry over foreign media influence in 
Nigeria.  Recently the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission 
(NBC) banned direct rebroadcast of foreign news by 
Nigerian affiliate stations of the BBC, VOA and DW. 
The NBC has also outlawed the sale and use of free-to- 
air decoders in Nigeria, but these measures have not 
deterred Nigerian audiences who continue to receive 
foreign broadcasts including the CNN, CCTV and Al- 
Jazeera via satellite television and shortwave radio. 
 
3.   For foreign radio broadcasters, Nigeria represents 
two distinct audiences divided largely by language and 
geography.  Roughly half of Nigeria's population lives 
in northern Nigeria, speaks Hausa as a first language, 
or uses Hausa as a second language or lingua franca. 
This group is predominantly Muslim while southern 
Nigeria is largely English speaking and Christian. 
While many southern Yorubas are also Muslim, Islamic 
scholars (and Nigerians Muslims themselves) make a 
clear distinction between Yoruba Muslims and those from 
the north.  Thus, BBC and VOA have English as well as 
Hausa language programs to cover northern audiences 
while English programming is more popular in the south. 
 
4.   There are differences between how elites process 
information and effective strategies to influence elite 
opinion, and how average Nigerians get their 
information and formulate opinions.  USG-to-GON 
influence strategies are only partially successful in 
Nigeria, as Nigerian public officials are very 
dependent on the opinions of other African government 
officials, pay real attention, and envy the success 
stories of other African and non-aligned countries. 
Nigeria has a large ego, and the peer review mechanism 
is an important self-assessment and policy formulation 
toll in Nigeria.  For contentious issues between the 
USG and Nigeria, we should look to respected 
intermediaries and messengers who are held in high 
esteem by Nigerian officials - either distinguished 
African-American, or distinguished Pan-African non- 
governmental American leaders as well as other African 
officials who enjoy access in Nigeria.  Regardless of 
what they hear from the media, average Nigerians place 
great stock in opinions of local religious and 
traditional leaders as well as youth militant leaders, 
and can be influenced (both positively and negatively) 
by such people.  In both the north and south, 
traditional and religious leaders play an increasingly 
important role as one moves away from urban centers and 
as literacy levels decline.  In the oil-producing Niger 
Delta region, voices from militant youth leaders are a 
force to be reckoned with. End introduction. 
 
The Media Environment in Nigeria 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. The media environment in Nigeria is remarkably 
complex, with sharp north-south differences.  In both 
the north and south, however, radio remains the means 
by which most Nigerians hear news.  The government 
regulates the national television and radio airwaves 
through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) a 
nominally independent body.  The federal government- 
owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and 
the National Television Authority (NTA) are Africa's 
largest radio and television networks.  They operate 
stations in the state capitals and have two "autonomous 
stations in Lagos and Abuja.  In addition, the 
Government of Nigeria sponsors the Voice of Nigeria 
(VOA), which broadcasts news and feature stories about 
Nigeria within the country as well as outside Nigeria 
to neighboring West African nations and South Africa, 
where many Nigerians live.  Africa Independent 
Television (AIT) and Raypower radio have the widest 
reach via satellite amongst the licensed private 
broadcast operations.  Other private stations are 
mostly based in the urban cities of Lagos, Abuja, 
Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Benin, Obosi, Abeokuta and Port 
Harcourt with a largely southern following. 
Commercially, NTA, MITV, AIT, Minaj, and Channels are 
available within Africa via satellite, while U.S. 
satellite subscribers may receive AIT broadcasts.  The 
top leading Nigerian newspapers in the south includes 
"The Sun," "Guardian," "ThisDay," "Vanguard," "Daily 
Independent," "Tribune," and "Champion" while "Daily 
Trust," "Gaskiya," and "Al-Mizan" are the widest 
circulating papers in the north. 
 
Information Sources 
------------------- 
 
6. In the north, radio is particularly important in 
reaching large audiences, and the Hausa language 
broadcasts are very popular.  Both Nigerian and foreign 
stations, BBC, VOA, DW, Radio Iran inclusive, have 
large listenerships.  Because of the north's relative 
low literacy rate and lack of development, television, 
especially English language broadcasts, does not yet 
reach large audiences.  But satellite broadcasts -- not 
only BBC and CNN but also Arabic-language stations from 
the Middle East -- reach and influence the elite. 
Cable television subscriptions and free to air 
decoders, bringing international stations to Nigerian 
viewers by satellite, have become more important in 
affluent communities, especially in the north.  Local 
language and ethnically based papers are important in 
both the north and the south.  Aside from traditional 
media, a broad category of other information sources 
also includes influential teachings in the mosques, 
churches, Sunday schools and Islamic schools.  Some of 
the opinions in circulation come from visiting scholars 
and clerics, and are a particular source of influence 
in an increasingly illiterate northern Nigeria.  There 
is a sector of sponsored pro-Islamic information 
sources with grassroots influence that is primarily 
religious and anti-U.S. in character.  Some of them, 
especially the pro-Islamic sponsored literature, 
pamphlets and hand bills exploit the Hausa language to 
build a large readership.  Internet chat groups are 
also influential with the elite and political class 
such as  and 
 which has become very 
influential with northern intellectuals, labor leaders, 
northern Muslim/Christian youth activists, Civil 
Society and NGO leaders as well as student groups. 
Christian organizations in the south are a large force 
for mobilizing crowds but are not generally viewed as 
political actors; parishes actively discourage 
political messages. 
 
Who matters in Nigeria? 
---------------------- 
 
7.  It is important to distinguish between influential 
political actors that are within the government and 
those outside it.  Those in government influence 
policies and are respected for the positions they 
occupy, but they may not have the same clout after 
vacating their offices.  Conversely, there are retired 
military leaders and political actors whose opinions 
remain crucial to policy decisions well after they had 
left the government. Top political party leaders, 
religious leaders, labor leaders, traditional rulers, 
youth leaders, and academics have varying levels of 
influence in the government's decision making process. 
Retired past military leaders still retain significant 
influence while Muslim clerics are the most influential 
in northern Nigeria.  Journalists are important in 
informing the public and mobilizing public opinion, but 
have little direct influence as individuals. 
 
------------------- 
Those in government 
------------------- 
 
---President Olusegun Obasanjo 
 
Obasanjo makes the decisions.  The president has 
severally denied any third term, self-succession plan. 
Obasanjo is serving his second term as a democratically 
elected leader since May 1999, having served previously 
as the only Nigerian military Head of State who 
voluntarily handed over to a democratic government in 
1979.  Obasanjo has a large ego and an ambition for 
global statesmanship. 
 
---Atiku Abubakar 
 
Abubakar is the current vice president of Nigeria. 
Born on November 25, 1946 at Jada, Adamawa State, 
Abubakar is reportedly working assiduously hard to take 
over from President Obasanjo in 2007. Although, his 
ambition may face some hiccups, observers believe he 
has all it takes to be the next Nigerian president - 
power, money, influence and political connections. 
Abubakar came to the Nigerian political scene in the 
1990s as a prominent member of the Peoples' Democratic 
Movement (PDM), an influential national political 
association founded by late Musa Yar'adua.  PDM 
eventually became one of the associations that formed 
the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) in 1998. 
Abubakar was elected Governor of Adamawa State in 1998 
before President Obasanjo nominated him as Vice 
President during 1999 presidential elections.  They 
were reelected in 2003. 
 
---Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu 
Ribadu has been the Chairman, Economic and Financial 
Crimes Commission (since 2003). 
Ribadu was likely appointed to his post by President 
Obasanjo because of his reputation as a formidable and 
hard-nosed financial fraud police inspector and his 
personal connections to several members of Obasanjo's 
economic team.  Described as dedicated but at times 
arrogant, Ribadu has won kudos from GON officials and 
the press for his aggressiveness in pursing economic 
criminals.  He has often tested the limits of his 
authority, ruffling feathers inside and outside the 
GON. 
A mid-level bureaucrat before his appointment to the 
EFCC, Ribadu was the Head of the Legal and Prosecution 
Department of the Nigerian Police.  He joined the 
Nigeria Police in 1986 as an Assistant Superintendent 
of Police, climbing the ladder to become Deputy 
Superintendent (1992), Superintendent (1995), Chief 
Superintendent (1998) and Assistant Commissioner 
(2000). 
Ribadu was born in Yola, Adamawa State on November 11, 
1960.  He earned a Bachelor of Laws degree at the 
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1980-1983) and 
proceeded to the Nigerian Law School where he was 
called to the Bar in 1984. 
---Mr. Bode Agusto 
Mr. Agusto has been the Director General/Adviser in the 
Budget Office of the Federation (since 2003). 
Taciturn and no-nonsense, Olabode (Bode) Agusto, was 
likely appointed to his post by President Obasanjo to 
add further credibility to the GON's new economic team. 
He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1981, 
obtaining the third prize in the overall order of 
merit. Agusto then worked with Price Waterhouse in 
Lagos and London as an auditor, tax consultant and 
management consultant. 
The Director General also worked in Citibank Nigeria 
first as an operations officer and later as a credit 
officer. Agusto is the founder (1992) and Managing 
Director of Lagos-based Agusto & Co Limited, a credit 
rating and business information company. 
 
---Professor Charles Saludo 
Professor Saludo has been the Chief Economic Adviser to 
President Obasanjo (since 2003) and Governor, Central 
Bank of Nigeria (since May). 
 
Professor Saludo is the driving force and leading 
member of President Obasanjo's economic team.  Saludo, 
an intelligent, energetic and worldly interlocutor, was 
likely appointed to his position by President Obasanjo 
because of his international connections to leading 
economists and for his pro-debt relief stance.  He was 
Educated at Harvard University and Cambridge in the 
United Kingdom. 
 
Before assuming his post, Saludo served as the 
Executive Director of the African Institute for Applied 
Economics (AIAE) at Enugu, Nigeria.  He was also a 
Professor of Economics at the University of Nigeria, 
Nsukka.  Dr. Saludo has consulted on debt relief and 
poverty reduction for the Bretton Woods Institutions, 
UN agencies, and USAID. 
 
---Dr. (Mrs). Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 
Dr. Iweala has been the Minister of Finance (since 
2003). 
 
A career bureaucrat, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (o-KON-jo-ee- 
WAY-ah-la) was likely appointed to her position by 
President Obasanjo because of her contacts in and 
influence on and understanding of the Bretton Woods 
Institutions and her international reputation as a 
competent administrator.  The Minister joined the World 
Bank's Young Professionals Program in 1982.  From 1982 
to 2000, she worked as an Economist and subsequently 
managed the East Asia, Africa and Middle East 
portfolios. 
 
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala initially served the Obasanjo 
Administration in 2000, when she took a leave of 
absence from the World Bank to help Nigeria in managing 
its foreign debt, culminating in the establishment of 
the Debt Management Office (DMO). 
 
---Dr. Jide Adedeji 
 
Dr. Adedeji is an entrepreneur, scientist, innovator 
and business owner with strong interest in value added 
agro-industrial business enterprises in Africa. He is 
the President of Honeydrop Foods Incorporated in New 
Jersey, USA. www.obesauce.com. 
He recently completed method and process 
development of two unique and exotic 
tropical fruit flavors that have 
extraordinary commercial potential as a 
flavor ingredient in flavor 
formulations, beverages and food 
products. 
 
Dr. Adedeji has a Ph.D. and masters degree in Food 
Science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New 
Jersey. He has a Master of Science degree and 
postgraduate Diploma in Food Science and Technology 
from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a bachelor's 
degree in Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition from 
the same institution. 
 
---NasirAhmed  El-Rufai 
 
El-Rufai has been the Minister of the Federal Capital 
Territory (since 2003) 
 
El-Rufai, who served as President Obasanjo's effective 
and often publicly maligned Director-General of the 
Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from November 1999 
to May 2003, is considered one of the GON's ablest 
technocrats.  El-Rufai is a key and influential member 
of Obasanjo's economic team and was a driving force in 
preparing the GON's National Economic Empowerment 
Development Strategy (NEEDS) program. 
 
Nasir El-Rufai has worked in various fields in the 
private sector, including Telecommunications and 
Construction. His first professional experience in the 
public sector was his appointment as a member of the 
Program Implementation Monitoring Committee (PIMCO)-a 
think tank in the office of the Head of State (1998- 
1999). 
 
Born on February 16, 1960, El-Rufai attended Ahmadu 
Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained First Class 
Honors in Quantity Surveying (1980) and a Masters of 
Business Administration (1984).  He also attended the 
Harvard Business School, Management Program (1994- 
1998/2001) and the Arthur D. Little School of 
Management, earning a Certificate in Privatization 
(1992). 
 
Senate President Ken Nnamani 
 
Senator Nnamani presides over Nigeria's upper 
legislative house.  By Nigerian official ranking, he is 
the third in the hierarchy of government.  He was 
elected as Senate President on April 5 2005.  Nnamani 
holds an MBA from Ohio University, Athens, USA.  He was 
a businessman and industrial consultant before trying 
his hands in politics. 
 
Speaker Aminu Masari 
 
Representative Masari heads the lower legislative 
house.  He is the fourth ranking official in Nigeria. 
He was elected speaker in 2003. 
 
Obong Ufot Ekaette 
 
Ekaettee has been the Secretary to the Government of 
the Federation (since 1999).  He heads the cabinet 
secretariat and coordinates activities of all cabinet 
 
SIPDIS 
members.  He was born on April 17, 1939 in Ikot Edor, 
Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. He 
attended King's College, Lagos and later University 
College, Ibadan, where he graduated with B.Sc (Honors) 
in Economics in 1964 with a distinction in Development 
Economics. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Political Heavy Weights outside Government 
------------------------------------------ 
 
---General Muhammadu Buhari 
 
General Buhari is a retired General, former military 
head of state and presidential candidate of Nigeria's 
largest opposition party, ANPP in the 2003 elections. 
Although, he lost the elections amid allegations of 
widespread irregularities, Buhari is still very popular 
with the grassroots especially in the Northern part of 
Nigeria. 
 
Buhari received his military training at the Nigerian 
Defense Academy (NDA), Kaduna Nigeria, Mons Officer 
Cadet School, Adershot, United Kingdom, Defense 
Services Staff College, Wellington and USA Army War 
College. 
 
---General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida 
 
General Babangida, retired General and former Head of 
State remains an influential figure in the Nigerian 
political scene since he quit government after 
annulling the controversial 1993 elections.  Born in 
1941, Babangida joined the Nigerian army in 1962 and 
retired in 1993.  He had his military training at the 
Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy 
(1964), Royal Armored Center, United Kingdom (1966), 
Army Armored School, USA (1972-73), Command and Staff 
College, Jaji, Nigeria (1977) and Senior Defense 
Management Course, Naval Postgraduate, USA (1980). 
 
---Chief Tony Anenih, Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees 
 
Anenih is the current Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees. 
Believed to have the ears of president Obasanjo who 
once appointed him Minister for Works and Housing, 
Anenih is undoubtedly Obasanjo's political strategist 
and tactician.  Nigerians sometimes read Anenih's lips 
to know Obasanjo's mood. 
 
Anenih was born on September 25, 1941 in Uromi, present 
day Edo state. A chartered accountant, Anenih was 
trained in Nigeria and Great Britain. He later joined 
the Nigerian Police force where he rose to the post of 
an Assistant Commissioner before he went into private 
business. 
 
---Chief Chukwuemeka Anyaoku 
 
----------------------------- 
Traditional/Religious Leaders 
----------------------------- 
 
---Sultan Muhammadu Maccido 
 
Maccido is the Sultan of Sokoto.  By official 
recognition, Sultan of Sokoto is the highest ranking 
Muslim leader in Nigeria, combining both religious and 
traditional roles.  Therefore, the Sultan represents 
not only all the Muslims in Nigeria but he is also the 
highest raking traditional ruler in the North.  As the 
reigning Sultan, Maccido is both the president of the 
Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and Supreme Council of 
Islamic Affairs (SCIA), two most important Muslim 
organizations.  Sultan Maccido was born in 1926 and was 
appointed Sultan on April 21, 1996 following the 
deposition of Sultan Dasuki by the Abacha regime. 
 
---Cardinal Anthony Okogie 
 
Cardinal Okogie is the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos. He 
is one of the vocal Christian leaders in Nigeria. 
 
Okogie was born on June 16, 1936 in Sapele, Delta 
state. He was educated in Lagos and Rome and was 
ordained Catholic priest on December 11, 1966. On June 
5, 1971, he was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Lagos and 
ordained Bishop on August 29, 1975. He became an 
archbishop on April 13, 1973. 
 
Alhaji Ado Bayero 
 
Bayero is the Emir of Kano.  A retired police officer, 
diplomat, administrator and traditional ruler, Bayero 
is perhaps the most influential traditional ruler in 
the North. Bayero has played several mediating roles 
during communal conflicts and he is well respected 
within and outside Kano.  The significance of Kano as 
the commercial nerve center of the North coupled with 
its huge population of the State (Note: Kano is the 
second most populous in Nigeria after Lagos). 
 
He was born on June 15, 1930 and appointed Emir of Kano 
1963.  Prior to that, he was Nigerian Ambassador to 
Senegal.  He served as Chief of Police, Kano Native 
Authority from 1957 to 1962. Bayero was a member of the 
Northern State House of Assembly from 1955 to 1957.  He 
attended Kano Middle School from 1942 to 1947, School 
of Arabic Studies, Kano from 1947 to 1949 and Institute 
of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 
1951 to 1952. 
 
---Right Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola 
 
Akinola is the Head of Anglican Church in Nigeria and 
Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). 
Apart from heading one the largest Christian 
congregations, Reverend Akinola's position as CAN 
chairman makes him an influential religious leader in 
Nigeria.  CAN is the umbrella organization for all the 
Christian communities in Nigeria. 
 
---Oba Okuade Sijuwade 
 
Oba Sijuwade is the Ooni of Ife (paramount rule of the 
cradle of Yoruba civilization).  Businessman and 
traditional ruler, Oba Sijuwade is one of the most 
influential traditional chiefs in the Southwest.  His 
domain, Ile-Ife is considered the ancestral home of 
Yoruba nationality.  He was born on January 1, 1930 and 
was crowned the Ooni of Ife in 1980. 
Igwe Alfred Achebe 
 
Achebe is the Obi of Onitsha (the most vibrant 
commercial city in Ibo land).  Achebe was a member of 
the recently disbanded political reform conference. He 
represented southeast traditional rulers.  Igwe Achebe 
was born in Onitsha, Anambra state on May 14, 1941. He 
was appointed the Obi of Onitsha on May 10, 2002. The 
stool of the Obi of Onitsha is the most powerful 
traditional institution in the South East.  He obtained 
a B.A in Chemistry from the Stanford University 
California, USA and an M.Sc in Business Administration 
from the Columbia University in New York City. 
 
Campbell