US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1850

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001850 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, EAID, KDEM, KPAO, KMPI, NI 
SUBJECT: Nigeria: COMBATING EXTREMISM 
 
REF:  STATE 155954 
 
1. Summary: Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa 
with roughly an equal number of Muslims and Christians. 
Despite its prominence as a leading oil producer, the 
majority of Nigerians eke out a meager existence on less 
than a dollar a day, as the country finds itself near the 
bottom of the list in nearly every parameter of human 
development, often lagging behind its smaller, poorer 
neighbors.  Although the majority of its citizens are poor, 
Nigeria is known for its conspicuous pockets of wealth. 
Nigeria also has a history of communal, ethnic and religious 
conflicts, which have often been fueled by a complex web of 
factors including, lack of economic and educational 
opportunities, poverty and underdevelopment, poor 
governance, and misinformation. This type of environment 
provides fertile ground for religious extremism, especially 
in Muslim northern Nigeria, where rates of poverty and other 
social indicators are most dismal. Post uses a variety of 
means to address the root causes of extremism--including 
public diplomacy outreach, development and humanitarian 
assistance, and support for good governance. End Summary. 
 
2. Context. Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in 
Africa, including North Africa. In fact there are more 
Muslims in Nigeria than any single Arab country. Islam is 
deeply rooted in northern Nigeria among the Hausa Fulani and 
in the south-west Nigeria among the ethnic Yoruba. All 
Muslim communities maintain mosques, Koranic schools 
(Islamiyya) and Shairia courts. Fora for Muslim-Christian 
dialogue are active, but relations are tense and often erupt 
in communal violence spearheaded by unemployed Muslim youth. 
In foreign policy terms, most Nigerian Muslims disagree with 
U.S. Middle East policy and are against the war in Iraq. 
Their opinions about the U.S. are mixed. They appreciate 
U.S. support for Nigerian democracy and respect for U.S. 
technology and institutions. However, they criticize 
permissiveness in American society, U. S. support for 
Israel, and what they perceive as a lack of American 
appreciation for Muslims and the Islamic faith. Broadcast 
and print media in the north re-inforce these opinions. 
 
3. Effective programs/projects. The current outreach 
strategy utilizes mission outreach, State Department 
exchange, USAID technical assistance, and DOD humanitarian 
assistance programs. 
 
 
4. Post's public diplomacy efforts have been effective in 
reaching out to Muslim opinion makers and youth audiences. 
Addressing the lack of information and misinformation in 
Nigeria, which often gives life to polemical and distorted 
views of the U.S., its people, culture and policies, the 
Embassy began publishing the 16 page Hausa-language 
magazine, "MAGAMA" for Muslim audiences shortly after the 
September 11 terrorist attacks.  In FY 05 the magazine was 
revamped to appeal to younger audience. The latest issue 
features the US visit of a young Muslim cleric who was a 
vocal critic of U.S. policies and society and who returned 
with a changed attitude.  A recent International Visitor 
Program (IVLP) grantee, Imam Adeyemi voiced his views at a 
PAS press conference and later to his congregation at the 
Alhabibiyya Academy Mosque.   Future issues on health, 
peacekeeping, food security, economic empowerment will 
continue the emphasis on youth.  Eight thousand copies of 
the magazine circulate quarterly and additional copies are 
distributed to the five American Corners in northern 
Nigeria.  As the only Hausa-language magazine in Nigeria, 
"Magama" has not only become an important source of 
information for Muslim civil society groups but is being 
used as a reference text for language instruction and 
Islamic studies in several northern universities. 
 
 
5. As part of its efforts to reach out to young people who 
are often swayed by extremist views, Nigeria was the first 
African country to participate in the Partnerships for 
Learning's  Youth Exchange and Study program (YES) for high 
school student in FY 03. The program began with 20 students 
and teachers from two northern Nigerian states and this year 
two other northern states were added with plans to expand to 
three other northern states in 2007. Students were placed 
with families and schools in Iowa, and an evaluation 
revealed that students returned with a more balanced view of 
the U. S. and an improved understanding of Americans. The 
also viewed their own countries in a new light and showed 
positive changes in beliefs and values. In addition American 
host families have visited Sokoto in northern Nigeria and 
Nigerian YES students and teachers are forming an alumni 
group. 
 
6. Other Embassy youth programming includes establishing 
English-language labs in two high schools in Kaduna and Kano 
and providing 20 Access Micro scholarships to needy students 
in FY04 and FY05.  The Ambassador's Girls Scholarship 
Program provided scholarships for junior secondary students 
in 12 states (60 scholarships per state).  Muslim girls in 
six states in the north and two states in the southwest 
benefited from the program. 
 
7. Both Public Diplomacy (PD) and Military Information 
Support Teams (MIST) have used the popularity of an American 
sport--basketball--to good advantage with youth.  The 
program, Basketball for Peace (BB4P), utilizes the popular 
game of basketball as a means of exploring conflict 
resolution, targeting Muslim and Christian youth from ages 
14-29 as a means of mitigating or preventing sectarian 
violence. Support to this program has included educational 
materials, t-shirts, posters, basketball backboards, all 
with themes and messages promoting tolerance. The program 
will be expanded to northern Nigeria and may potentially use 
mass media to reach a larger target audience. U.S. Embassy 
Nigeria is considering requesting a regular MIST presence in 
order to help amplify the positive messages. 
 
 
8. Educational opportunities, especially in Northern 
Nigeria, where literacy rates are the lowest in the country, 
provide an important opportunity to provide critical USG 
assistance to populations vulnerable to extremist messages. 
USAID programs have focused on issues of fundamental 
education reform and direct assistance for targeted 
programs. Through its Literacy Enhancement Assistance 
Program (LEAP) USAID has effectively leveraged its funding, 
which spanned academic years 2002;/3 and 2003/4  to 
encourage reform aimed at improving the ability of Nigerian 
children to read and write English well and do basic math by 
the end of primary and Koranic schooling.  LEAP collaborated 
with federal, state, and local government authorities 
(LGA's) as well as local schools and communities in two 
northern Nigerian states and Lagos. The program was 
implemented through interactive radio instruction and 
complimentary teacher training, developing democracy policy 
support systems, and harnessing parent and community 
involvement.  LEAP involved approximately 330 primary 
schools (252 secular and 78 Koranic and approximately 1800 
teachers (1550 secular and 250 Koranic) and 50,000 students. 
 
 
9.  Helping build a government in Nigeria that could 
effectively deliver services both transparently and 
efficiently with key input from the governed would provide 
an effective way to reduce anger at and alienation from the 
government. USAID's democracy and governance programs target 
key governance pillars by providing assistance to build the 
capacity of civil society and legislative bodies, and 
addresses the need for professionalism and transparency in 
upcoming elections, as well as efforts to respond to and 
manage conflict. Specific programs included the Conflict 
Management and Mitigation (CMM) which targets key northern 
states and uses the Muslim/Christian Dialogue Forum to work 
with joint committees of Muslims and Christians to prevent 
conflict and build peace. With a history in Nigeria of the 
close connection between politics gone bad and extremist 
responses, USAID's proactive efforts to improve transparency 
in upcoming elections is supported through the Elections 
Assistance and Support (EAS) Program which focuses on 
election administration, political party strengthening, and 
citizens groups monitoring.  The national scope of this 
program reaches northern populations, and will include the 
training and use of election monitors in northern states. 
In order to encourage grassroots participation and bolster a 
sense of  ownership USAID has supported the Advocacy, 
Awareness and Civic Empowerment (ADVANCE) program  that 
builds civil society's capacity to advocate for policy 
reform; demands good governance at the federal and selected 
state levels; and builds productive partnerships between 
civil society organizations and Government of Nigeria 
institutions to fight against corruption.  Particular 
support will be given to human rights groups to ensure that 
the rule of law continues to figure prominently in 
governance in Shari'a jurisdictions in the North. 
 
10. USAID's programs to help improve the quality of and 
access to health and education services promote popular 
participation. The $95 million Community Action for 
Participation in the Social Services (COMPASS), which began 
in 2004, provides community based, integrated social sector 
services in three northern states and for the education 
component, COMPASS works in two northern states with public 
primary schools, 25 percent of which are Islamiyyah schools 
(which teach the core Koranic curriculum in addition to 
contemporary education subjects such as math, English and 
social science).  The rationale for targeting assistance to 
Islamiyyah schools is that these schools enroll large 
numbers of Muslim girls because their parents believe 
secular public schools are not compliant with Islam.   In FY 
2004, COMPASS received "Basic Education for Islamic 
Communities" funding from USAID, which was used for teacher 
training and Interactive Radio Instruction to improve 
literacy in two key northern states. 
 
 
 
 
11. DOD humanitarian assistance programs are focused on 
improving the basic quality of life in rural areas that 
receive minimal support from the Government of Nigeria. 
These activities strike at the root causes of extremism: 
underdevelopment, lack of economic opportunity, and sense of 
neglect and are focused in the rural, largely Muslim north 
where the local population is often poorly educated and 
uninformed. DOD efforts at Muslim Outreach include 
Humanitarian Assistance (HA) programs and support to public 
health issues by Military information Support Teams (MIST). 
Often these projects provide community member their only 
first hand contact with the United States Government and the 
DOD and represent a rare opportunity to counter extremist 
messages or negative impressions about the United States. 
Typical programs include the communal digging of wells, the 
renovation of schools and medical clinics, the provision of 
clean drinking water through boreholes, the construction of 
seed storage facilities and the disbursement of excess DOD 
property to schools and libraries. Each HA project is openly 
and prominently associated with the USG and DOD and receives 
prominent press coverage, thereby amplifying the positive 
effect of the project.  MIST activities also support 
outreach objectives and goals.  The MIST has partnered with 
USAID and various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to 
address major public health issues. The MIST has worked to 
support a general vaccination campaign in Northern Nigeria 
that aims to improve infant health. U.S. Embassy Nigeria is 
considering requesting a regular MIST presence in order to 
help amplify the vaccination campaign and tolerance program. 
 
 
12.  USAID's programs to improve livelihoods address the 
issue of economic stagnation and poverty, especially in key 
segments of the northern Nigerian economy. The programs 
focus on increasing the productivity of selected commodities 
and the number of value-added products, building a more 
commercial and competitive orientation among farmers and 
small entrepreneurs, and improving the policy environment 
for agriculture, trade and small business development. The 
Maximizing Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprises in 
Targeted Sites (MARKETS) program,  managed from a regional 
office in Kano State, works with farmers, processors, and 
wholesalers in the northern Nigeria in such commodity 
sectors as cereals, legumes, cowpeas, and animal feed. The 
International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) 
Planting Seed Reserve assists farmers to produce seeds of 
early maturing, drought tolerant, and high yielding 
varieties of food crops such as millet, sorghum and cowpea 
to enhance household food security in three northern states 
of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano. 
 
CAMPBELL