his scheduled March 27 official visit to Nigeria, in
response to the controversial pardon granted by
President Goodluck Jonathan to ex-convicts
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and Shettima Bulama,
PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.
Mr. Gates was due in Nigeria March 27 and 28 to
meet President Goodluck Jonathan, state
governors and officials of the Federal Ministry of
Health concerning the aggressive polio
eradication campaign his Bill and Melinda
Foundation is undertaking in the country.
That trip, authoritative diplomatic sources said,
has now been cancelled, two days after the U.S.
government expressed disappointment with its
Nigerian counterpart for pardoning convicted
money launderers and warned it might cut aid
meant for the country.
"I can confirm to you that Mr. Gates won't be
coming as scheduled," one of our sources told
PREMIUM TIMES Monday morning. "The body
language of Washington D.C. does not support
his travelling to Nigeria. The thinking here is that
the Nigerian government has high tolerance level
for corruption and should be ostracized in all
ways possible."
Our sources said Mr. Gates has already instructed
his staff to inform the Nigerian presidency, the
secretariat of the Nigeria Governors' Forum and
the Federal Ministry of Health that he was no
longer coming.
Presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, did not
answer or return calls seeking comment.
Contacted, the Director General of the Nigeria
Governors' Forum, Asishana Okauru, said he
would have to check with his staff whether any
such communication had come from Mr. Gates'
office. He did not answer or return subsequent
calls. Mr. Gates' office is not opened as at the
time of this report as calls were unanswered.
But checks by this newspaper indicate that the
U.S. government has dissuaded Mr. Gates from
coming to Nigeria.
"The State Department has advised him that
Nigeria is not conducive for such visit at this
time," another source said. "We hope that the
Nigerian government will get the message and
return to the path of sanity."
The controversial pardon granted Messrs
Alamieyeseigha and Bulama had on Friday
sparked fierce diplomatic row between Nigeria
and the United States, with the Americans
threatening to punish Nigeria over Mr. Jonathan's
action and Nigeria accusing the Americans of
meddlesomeness.
"We see this as a setback for the fight against
corruption, and also for our ability to play the
strong role we've played in supporting rule of law
and legal institution-building in Nigeria, which is
very important for the future of the country
obviously," State Department spokesperson,
Victoria Nuland, had told reporters in
Washington.
"We have made clear to the Nigerians that this
puts a question mark on the kinds of work that
we've been trying to do with them."
The U.S. is the world's top donor. In 2012, it
spent about $226 million on health and
governance programmes in Nigeria. And about
$600million has been requested for 2013,
according to U.S.
government data. That is apart from what
American private foundations such as Mr. Gates'
spend on Nigeria's government and non-
governmental organisations.
Mr. Gate is the biggest foreign supporter of the
campaign to eradicate polio in Nigeria and has
worked consistently with the Nigerian authorities
since 2009 over the matter. His foundation has
developed a six-year strategy through 2018 that
will help combat polio in Nigeria, Pakistan and
Afghanistan and has set aside $1billion per
annum for the purpose.
The bulk of that money is meant for Nigeria
which currently has the highest cases of polio in
the world. Mr. Gates' efforts has seen
improvements which helped Pakistan reduce the
number of polio cases from 198 in 2011 to 56 in
2012; and Afghanistan from 80 to 35 during the
same period.
The situation in Nigeria worsened during the
same period, increasing from 62 in 2011 to 119
in 2012.
Mr. Gates last visited Nigeria in November 2012.
During that visit, his foundation entered into a
four-year alliance with the Dangote Foundation
which promised to provide funding, equipment
and technical support to the Kano state
government to strengthen polio immunisation.
He had scheduled this March's visit to
consolidate that alliance, meet with President
Jonathan, state governors and other stakeholders
with a view to generally revving up the war
against the pandemic.
Source : Premiumtimes
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