permaculture

[Ute Bohnsack <sustag@eircom.net>]

Dear all,
I just received a somewhat obscure letter purportedly from a presidential
advisor in Nigeria, who is recruiting consultants to set up permaculture 
centers
in Nigeria.
I copy the letter below.

There are a few strange things about it which almost made me delete it as 
spam.
However, if it was a true request I'd like to pass it on to people who would 
be
interested in that kind of work. I don't particularly want to work in Nigeria
and I'm not familiar with the conditions there. Perhaps someone else does.
Anyway, the strange bits are:

1) the originating address was a Dr. Paul Davis. I can't find a Paul Davis 
with
any connection in Nigeria and his e-mail address doesn't appear on the net
(unless it's well hidden)
2) the letter is signed by a Dr. Egobia-Biko who's name also doesn't crop up
anywhere on the net, and in the letter the "my personal email address" is 
given
as that of Dr. Davis. The other email address given is also nowhere to be 
found
on the net.
3) I can't find any Nigerian "Agric/Environmental Conservative Foundation" on
the net or anything close to that name
4) The letter is riddled with spelling mistakes.
5) The letter was not just sent to my email address but also to various
concoctions of mine and my partners name @altavista.com where I never had an
address.
6) The dns lookup shows the letter originated in Canada.

So perhaps this is an elaborate hoax which begs the question "Why?".

Perhaps someone here can make sense of it.

Here's the letter:
Quote:
"FROM :  THE  PRESIDENCY 
DESK   :  THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER 
                    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION  
                    AGENCY 
                    PRESIDENTIAL VILLA ABUJA  
                       NIGERIA 
     
 
                   RE:  BUSINESS INTEREST 
  
 
I AM DR EGOBIA-BIKO {GED}NATIONAL AGRIC/ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATIVE 
FOUNDATION.WE ARE CURRENTLY MANDATED TO LAISE WITH INTERESTED FOREIGN 
PARTNERS  WHO WILL ASSIST US TO SET UP A COMPREHENSIVE PERMACULTURAL CENTER 
IN EACH OF THE 36 STATES OF THE FEDRETIONOF NIGERIA. 
 
 A COMPANY FROM SOUTH AFRICA WAS CONTACTED TO DO THE FICIBILITY STUDIES OF 
THE PROJECT IN 1998 BUT WAS CANCELLED DUE TO UNDULY BEHAVOUR EXHITED BY 
THEM, COUPLED WITH THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A CHANGE IN GOVERNMENT IN 1999. 
THE DOMCRATIC GOVERNMENT HAS PUT IN ALL THE MECHINARIES IN PLACE AND NOW 
RAEDY TO OPEN DISCUSSIONS WITH ANY INTERESTED PARTNER IN A VIEW OF AWARDING  
THE CONTRACT .  YOUR ESTEEMED SELF/COMPANY WAS INTRODUCED TO THIS DEPARTMENT 
BYYOUR CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE 6 MONTHS AGO. 
PLEASE KINDLY  SEND TO THIS OFFICE THROUGH THIS EMAIL ADDRESS 
Pres/nipan_@yahoo.com or   MY PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS padis@altavista.com 
YOUR LETTER OF INTENT AND YOUR DETAILED  PARTICULARS TO US . 
TO ENABLE US SEND YOU MODALITIES, TENDER DETAILS AND AREAS WE WOULD LIKE TO 
GET  YOU INVOLVED .   
BEST REGAERDS 
DR EGOBIA-BIKO{GED} 
FOR THE  EXCUTIVE CHAIRMAN "

Unquote