Clinton hosts Obasanjo

With the president of Nigeria by his side, President Clinton called on international leaders to ease Nigeria's debt and on the Senate to loosen trade restrictions with the African continent.
"Barriers to trade are barriers to opportunity for Africans working hard to catch up in a global economy and for Americans who want to work with them," Clinton said. "That's why it is vital that the Senate approve the African Growth and Opportunity Act which is now pending." Clinton extolled the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"We must do more to realise the promise of this moment for Nigeria, and for Africa," Clinton said. The president said he would work to ease Nigeria's $ 31 bn debt because it was "neither morally right nor economically sound" to force Nigerians to choose between paying their debts or educating their children.
Clinton is seeking to help Obasanjo turn his nation into a stabilising force for the rest of Africa. He met at the White House with Obasanjo, who took office inMay and is hoping his first official visit will yield a pledge of more U.S. aid and an end to a U.S. ban on flights because of lax airport security in Nigeria and drug smuggling.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has billions in oil wealth but is struggling with $ 31 bn in debt, a declining standard of living and widespread unemployment. Clinton, who has advocated debt forgiveness for poorer nations, is less concerned with that than with events that have unfolded since Obasanjo took office. Specifically, the White House notes that Nigeria acted as a mediator in Sierra Leone's civil conflict and has taken steps to curb corruption, such as cancelling questionable government contracts and recovering assets stolen under the regime of late military leader Gen. Sani Abacha.
"What we're witnessing here is a coming of age, if you will, for Nigeria under the Obasanjo government," said national security spokesman Jim Fallin. "Obasanjo's leadership bodes well for our future relationship and successes."
Among matters the agenda was oil - Nigeria provides about 10 % of the oil exported to the United States. Obasanjo wants U.S. help in reviving Nigeria's economy by leveraging its oil wealth; Clinton is interested in co-ordinating the assistance Nigeria is getting from 18 federal agencies under an umbrella effort, the U.S.-Nigerian Joint Economic Partnership Commission.
Nigeria's attempts to rebuild its economy are hampered by lingering concerns over corruption. Several powerful figures, including a main Obasanjo supporter, former military leader Ibrahim Babangida, got rich off of corruption and continue to live off of that wealth, anti-corruption activists assert.
Since Abacha's death in June 1998, Nigeria has convicted few people of corruption, and former officials suspected of corruption continue to live openly with little fear of prosecution. While Obasanjo forced dozens of senior military generals to retire, there have yet to be broad investigations of the military necessary to root out deeply entrenched corruption.
Lately, Obasanjo's government has shown willingness to prosecute some of the most brutal officials of the Abacha regime. Abacha's son and one of his top security officials were recently arrested in connection with the slaying of pro-democracy activist Kudirat Abiola, a wife of the late Moshood Abiola, winner of the 1993 presidential elections. Abiola died of a heart attack in prison a month after Abacha died.