USAID/OTI Nigeria Field Report
March 2001
Program Description
The Office of Transition Initiatives' (OTI) principal mission in Nigeria is to sustain the current transition toward national reconciliation and democracy. The FY2001 budget is $6 million. The majority of OTI's grants are to civil society groups, local governments, and community and media organizations focusing on conflict management, public awareness of key reform issues, and civil society development. The bulk of program activities on civilian-military relations and police reform are funded out of OTI headquarters in Washington, DC.
OTI's Nigeria program has offices in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and works with Louis Berger International to implement the program. OTI is scheduled to complete its program in Nigeria in September 2001, handing off activities to other USAID offices, USG agencies, Nigerian and U.S.-based non-governmental organizations, and other donors.
Country Situation
The national convention of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) passed without incident. The lack of fireworks was mildly surprising given the pre-convention posturing of several party factions, including one supporting the candidacy of the former military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida. However, with Babangida's candidacy continuing to attract interest, it is by no means clear that the party will avoid splintering in the run-up to the 2003 presidential and legislative elections.
The set of nationwide rallies by the Nigerian Labor Congress to protest deregulation of the domestic distribution and sale of petroleum products also ended peacefully. Even so, a violent response is still possible if the government proceeds with implementing the proposed policy. Labor unions and the organizations representing both university students and faculty are mobilizing for a general strike should the government act. The last such strike sparked violent clashes between protesters and police.
Efforts to reconcile parties to the October 2000 riots in the suburbs of Lagos have finally paid off as key actors in the feud have agreed to bury the hatchet. Leaders of both the Hausa and Yoruba communities have committed themselves to tolerance and peaceful co-existence.
Not all was peaceful during the month. Violent clashes between students and the police are on the increase. The University of Lagos was closed after a student protest march over police brutality turned violent and left two students dead. Students also took to the streets in Enugu and Benin City, both in solidarity with their colleagues in Lagos and to protest inadequate facilities and an increase in university tuition. The national student organization has since given the Government an ultimatum to investigate the Lagos killings and remove the Lagos State police commissioner for encouraging the police to use lethal force.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government revealed that it needs about 1 billion naira (US$ 10 million) to pay court fines resulting from unprofessional conduct of policemen, soldiers and state security operatives. The Justice Minister warned that henceforth, any security agent who incurs court fines would personally be liable.
OTI Highlights
A. Narrative Summary
One of OTI/Nigeria's priorities in the remaining months of the program is to continue strengthening the Conflict Resolution Stakeholders' Network (CRESNET), an association of conflict management professionals that emerged in response to OTI's involvement in this area. During the month OTI staff worked with CRESNET's National Executive Council to finalize two initiatives designed to advance the network's goal of becoming a national resource for conflict management training and intervention and peace advocacy. The first program focused on revising and updating a training material in light of recent Nigerian intervention experience, much of it OTI-supported. This material will then serve as the focal point for training-of-trainer workshops during April at the national and zonal levels. The second initiative is designed to expand membership and programming at the zonal level. The first step in this process is revising CRESNET's by-laws to provide more room for active zonal chapters.
At the same time, OTI's support for conflict management interventions continued. The Lagos office initiated a series of activities designed to promote dialogue and joint problem-solving in the festering dispute between the Ijaw and Ilaje communities in Ondo State. As elsewhere in the Niger Delta, competition for compensation from oil producers exacerbates more mundane disputes and turns them violent. Consequently, a major element of this intervention will be helping the communities map the conflict to identify who wins and who loses as a result of violence. The insights gained from exercises like this provide the groundwork for representatives from both communities to meet together, discuss their grievances and begin to identify mutually acceptable solutions.
In continuation of its strategy to make the North-Central region a political buffer zone, the Abuja office sponsored a three-week peace-building campaign in Jos, Plateau State. Jos has been a favored destination of Christians displaced from those northern States adopting Islamic Sharia law. The program in Plateau State combined a media campaign with three conflict-management and peace-building training workshops. The program concluded with a team-building workshop for key stakeholders. This group agreed to form a peace network that has since commenced work.
The Kano office also continued to deal with local conflict issues. Working with Women Health Network, a local civil society group, it sponsored conflict awareness and conflict management training for youth in Kano where vigilante Muslim youth are taking the law into their hands in the name of enforcing sharia law.
B. Grants Activity Summary
As the grants summary table details, grant activity significantly increased in March over the previous two months. A similar level will be maintained for the remaining three months that OTI/Nigeria will be awarding grants.
|
|
Obligated funds1(US$)
|
Number of grants / contracts
|
| Abuja
|
36,530
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
36,530
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
| Kano
|
106,787 |
0
|
0
|
0
|
106,787
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
| Lagos
|
250,780
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
250,780
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
| Port Harcourt
|
72,479
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
72,479
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
| Total Mar 2001
|
466,576
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
466,576
|
15
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
| Total since April 1999
|
2,830,711
|
1,548,270
|
464,330
|
3,949,203
|
8,792,514
|
95
|
10
|
29
|
100
|
234
|
Notes:
1 Grants are attributed to the office that obligated the funds, and not to the location(s) of grant-funded activities.
2 The "Other" category includes grants for energy sector, media and anti-corruption programs among others.
C. Indicators of
Success
- The Peace-building campaign in Jos has caught the attention of key players in the state. The senior police and state security personnel who attended the training were so impressed that they have requested that their units also be trained. Government officials in attendance have also requested for the training of all senior government functionaries.
- An OTI-sponsored Legislative Dialogue in the federal capital territory of Abuja has drastically reduced tension in the city. The Consultative Forum created after the training is working well in bridging the information gap between the government and the residents. In addition, revisions to the legislation regulating the federal territory have been introduced in the National Assembly. Especially important to indigenes are changes that give them the same rights as residents of Nigeria's states.
D. Program Appraisal
OTI/Nigeria continues with its exit strategy. One facet is the careful selection of grants that consolidate gains, strengthen existing capacity, capture impact, and record the lessons of experience. A second facet is thoughtful handover of OTI's work in conflict management and police reform to USAID/Nigeria, other donors, and Nigerian non-governmental organizations. To advance handover, OTI, in close collaboration with the Mission, has constituted teams that will undertake a combination of assessment, strategic planning and program design in these two areas during April and May. The third facet is the transfer of staff and property in ways that support OTI/Nigeria's strategic objectives. During March, OTI and the Mission reached an agreement with the African Development Foundation (ADF) that calls for ADF to take over OTI staff and office space in Kano once OTI departs.
NEXT STEPS/IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
OTI/Nigeria's priority remains on the continued implementation of the exit strategy, including authorization of another $5000,000 in grants and mobilization of two assessment/strategic planning teams.
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