News story inserted 10th November 1998

News story inserted at 13th September 1998

1st June 1999 - The New York Times
[size=18pt]Obasanjo orders the suspension of all contracts and agreements made this year by the previous military Government[/size]
On his third day in office, President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the suspension of all contracts and agreements made this year by the previous military Government, whose wild spending in recent months reduced the country's foreign reserves by more than $2 billion. A special panel will review the contracts, including the award of 11 offshore oil-exploration contracts, to companies with strong military connections. Norimitsu Onishi (NYT)

ETHNIC FIGHTING ERUPTS -- At least 50 people were feared dead in renewed ethnic fighting near the town of Warri after some 200 Ijaw youths attacked an Itsekiri village near a Chevron oil complex, witnesses said. A spokesman for Chevron confirmed the attack but said operations had not been affected. (Reuters, Agence France-Presse)

[size=18pt]11th June 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo continues to purge the army of last traces of General Abacha's Regime. However some officers from Babangida's regime are given key roles in government. [/size]

Nigeria's new President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced a second round of dramatic purges of the armed forces, relieving 93 more officers of their posts.

Government Spokesman Doyin Okupe explains the criteria used to retire all these officers
A list published on Thursday retires all soldiers who held political posts in the last 14 years under any of the three previous military regimes, with immediate effect.

Many of them served as ministers or as military governors of the 36 states which comprised the Nigerian Federation.
It follows the forced retirement of around 50 leading members of the former military regime's provisional ruling council since President Obasanjo was sworn in less than two weeks ago.

Sacrifice for democracy
A presidential statement said the dismissals were made with regret and aspersions were not being cast on the integrity of the officers.
It went on to say that they were necessary to provide a clean break with the past and had to be seen as some of the sacrifices that are to be made "to ensure the survival of democracy in Nigeria" and the permanent subordination of the Nigerian military to civilian rule.

Those affected by the shake-up include Mohammed Abdallah, the former military chief of staff under General Sani Abacha, whose strong-armed rule turned Nigeria into an international pariah and held up democratic reforms until his death 12 months ago.

Another of those retired was Major-General Patrick Aziza, who presided over a military tribunal that sentenced Obasanjo in 1995 to life in prison - later commuted to 15 years - on charges of plotting to topple late dictator Sani Abacha.

As a former general President Obasanjo knows the military well
According to the BBC's Nigeria correspondent, Barnaby Phillips, President Obasanjo is sending a clear message that any soldier who is tempted to take a post in any future military government, will be putting their career in jeopardy.

On taking office, President Obasanjo said he wanted a new war on corruption, and replaced the heads of the army, navy and airforce on his first day.

Within days, the newly-elected civilian president sacked allegedly corrupt customs officials and suspended contracts signed by the previous military government.








[size=18pt]12th June 1999 - World Socialist Web site
Obasanjo appoints National Security Advisor with close connections to Babangida, and  prepares to impose austerity measures including devaluation of Naira.[/size]

Obasanjo has appointed Aliyu Mohammed, a retired general from the north of Nigeria, as his national security advisor. He has close connections with former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, who played an important behind-the-scenes role in Obasanjo's election campaign. Joseph Sanusi, the managing director of one of Nigeria's largest commercial banks, has been appointed to head the Central Bank. While maintaining control of the oil portfolio himself, Obasanjo has appointed the outgoing secretary of OPEC, Rilwanu Lukman, to act as his special advisor.

Plans have been made to review the 1999 budget inherited from the former military government. Obasanjo has had discussions with the International Monetary Fund and has promised to rationalise “bloated national institutions”, meaning that he must make substantial cuts. Federal and ministerial tender boards are to be revived and given wider powers to assess all contracts in order to encourage competitiveness and cut out the so-called “Nigerian factor” (backhanders), which can add 50 percent to the cost of contracts. An anti-corruption bill is to be brought before the National Assembly before the end of June.

The previous military government had made an agreement with the IMF to address the country's outstanding international debts. Two-thirds of this external debt is owed to the Paris Club of official creditors. This amounts to $16 billion, of which $5 billion is owed to Britain. The IMF had agreed to loan $3 billion in February of this year, on the basis of a Nigerian pledge to push through privatisation plans and maintain interest payments on foreign debts.

IMF head Michel Camdessus went to Nigeria in March to see what progress had been made in implementing these demands. IMF officials are due to return to Nigeria in July to discuss the proposed loans and a two-month delay is expected. The IMF wants the new government to accept certain criteria, including a permanent monitoring mission at the ministry of finance and the central bank, and independent audits of the state-owned bank and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which is also state-owned.

Nigeria faces enormous economic and social problems, despite being the world's sixth largest oil exporting country. Under the impact of the collapse of oil prices and years of military rule, it has become the world's thirteenth poorest nation. Health, education and social service facilities are almost non-existent for the mass of the population. Agriculture has been all but destroyed. Even petrol has to be imported, because the country's oil refineries are in a state of disrepair. Unemployment is around 30 percent.

The Delta area, which produces 90 percent of Nigeria's hard-currency earnings, suffers grinding poverty and receives only 3 percent of the public revenues generated. Rivers have been polluted, farming disrupted and forests cut down, with no compensation from Shell, the company that produces half of Nigeria's 2 million barrels a day.

Opposition to the central government and to the oil companies has reached explosive proportions. At the end of last year a group of ethnic Ijaw activists shut down 20 pumping stations, halving onshore output for two months. In February five people were killed at a jetty that militants were trying to close. Ethnic conflicts are also growing. Recently there have been violent clashes around the oil town of Warri between Ijaws and rival Itsekiris, with reports of over 200 people killed.

The PDP election campaign was conducted under the slogans of "Power to the People" and "Justice, Unity and Progress". Now youth, workers and students will be looking to the new administration to address their needs. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued a 10-point list of demands, which includes the implementation of a 20,000 naira bursary for students and a high-powered committee, including respected academics, to make a critical review of the education system.

In the last days of the military regime, many workers took strike action to demand an increase in the minimum wage. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) suspended this after a month, with its president declaring that the minimum wage issue was a product of the military government and that the new government could not be held accountable. The demands of the IMF for privatisation and debt repayment mean that Obasanjo will have to push through massive cuts in state spending, including sacking civil servants and a possible devaluation of the naira

News story inserted for 3rd January 1999

news story inserted for 2nd December 1998

News story inserted 10th March 1981

News story inserted 11th June 1999

[size=18pt]14th June 1999 -BBC News
Obasanjo sets up Oputa panel to investigate human rights abuses of governments in last 15years, but stops short of investigating his own military government of 24years ago.[/size]

The new president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has set up a panel to investigate human rights abuses during the country's fifteen years of military rule.

In a speech on Nigerian television, Mr Obasango said the inauguration of the panel showed the government was serious about its policy of openness and transparency.

He said the panel would investigate all known or suspected cases of mysterious death and assassinations or attempted assassinations committed under the military regime.

The committee will be led by a retired judge, Chukwudifu Oputa.

News story inserted 5th January 1999

[size=18pt]1st July 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo announces winding up of the much- heralded and vital Petroleum Trust Fund, which was set up by Abacha to develop infrastructured, there appears to be no plans for a replacement[/size]

President Obasanjo has returned Nigeria to civilian government

The new President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has sworn in his government with key posts dominated by men who served previous military regimes.
 
They include Defence Minister Theophilus Danjuma who was once army chief of staff, and the veteran politician and former governor of Nigeria's Central Bank, Adamu Ciroma, who has been appointed Minister of Finance.

The vast majority of the 47 ministers are from President Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party, but he has included representatives from the two main opposition parties.
 
BBC Lagos Correspondent Barnaby Phillips: "Many of the key jobs have gone to the north"
"It is your responsibility to plug loopholes that allow for bending of rules and pilfering of state resources," the president told his new ministers at a ceremony in the capital, Abuja.

"You must not allow corruption in your separate ministries and departments."

The new government is Nigeria's first civilian leadership after more than 15 years of military rule.

Disputed nominees

President Obasanjo's list of nominees was originally presented to the senate shortly after the military government stepped down on 29 May, but his choices came in for lengthy criticism.

The BBC's Correspondent in Lagos, Barnaby Phillips, says that even though the president complied with the terms of the constitution and selected a minister from every single one of the country's 36 states, he still faced numerous accusations that he was favouring one region over another.

In particular, politicians from the north of Nigeria complained that he was favouring his native south-west. Ultimately most of the key posts have been assigned to ministers from the north.

However, while President Obasanjo has repeatedly expressed his determination to deal with corruption, he has included many names associated with past discredited regimes.

Our correspondent says the president appears to have opted for experienced politicians and has therefore disappointed those who hoped for a clean break with the past.

Trust fund scrapped

In a separate development, President Obasanjo also announced the winding-up of the discredited Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) which was supposed to finance infrastructure projects.

But correspondents say little concrete evidence exists of the more than $1bn spent since the fund was created in 1994.

The PTF was set up in 1994 by former military ruler General Sani Abacha to provide new social amenities following riots sparked by a rise in the price of petroleum products.

The scrapping of the fund had been part of President Obasanjo's election campaign.

[size=18pt]Cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo 1999–2003 [/size]  

Vice President:   Atiku Abubakar (1999–2007)

Agriculture:   Sani Daura (June 1999–2000) • Hassan Adamu (2000–January 2001) • Adamu Bello (February 2001–2007)

Aviation :   Olusegun Agagu (May 1999–February 2001) • Kema Chikwe (February 2001–May 2003)

Commerce :   Mustapha Bello (June 1999–2002) • Precious Ngelale (–May 2003)

Communications :   Mohammed Arzika (June 1999–June 2001) • Haliru Mohammed Bello • (June 2001–May 2003)

Co-operation and Integration in Africa:     Jerry Gana (May 1999–)

Defence : [/b]Theophilus Danjuma (June 1999–2003)

[b]Education :    Tunde Adeniran (June 1999–February 2001) • Babalola Borishade (February 2001–)

Environment (Later + Housing) :    Hassan Adamu (June 1999–2000) • Sani Daura (2000–January 2001) • Mohammed Kabir Said (February 2001–)

FCT Administration:    Ibrahim Bunu (June 1999–February 2001) • Mohammed Abba Gana (February 2001–)

Finance :     Adamu Ciroma (June 1999–2003)

Foreign Affairs :     Sule Lamido (June 1999–2003)

Health:   Tim Menakaya (June 1999–February 2001) • ABC Nwosu (February 2001–2003)


Industries:   Iyorchia Ayu (Jun 1999–2000) • Stephen Akiga (2000–January 2001) • Kolawole Babalola Jamodu (February 2001–May 2003)

Information and National Orientation :   Dapo Sarumi (June 1999–January 2001) • Jerry Gana (February 2001–)

Internal Affairs :     Sunday Afolabi (June 1999 -) • Mohammed Shata (–May 2003)

Justice (Attorney General) :     Kanu Agabi (Jun 1999–Jan 2000) • Bola Ige (Jan 2000–2002) • Kanu Agabi (2002–2003)

Labour, Employment and Productivity:    Alabo Graham-Douglas (June 1999–July 2000) • Musa Gwadabe

Mines and Steel Development (Solid Minerals):     Musa Gwadabe (June 1999–) • Kanu Agabi

Police Affairs:     David Jemibewon (June 1999–2000) • Stephen Akiga (February 2001–)

Power and Steel :     Bola Ige (June 1999–Jan 2000) • Segun Agagu

Science and Technology:     Ebitimi Banijo (June 1999–) • Turner Isoun

Sports and Social Development:   Damishi Sango (June 1999–February 2001) • Ishaya Mark Aku (February 2001–May 2002) • Stephen Akiga (May 2002–May 2003)

Tourism, Culture and National Orientation:     Ojo Maduekwe (June 1999–July 2000) • Alabo Graham-Douglas (July 2000–January 2001) • Boma Jack (February 2001–)

Transport :     Kema Chikwe (June 1999–February 2001) • Ojo Maduekwe (February 2001–2003)

Water Resources:    Mohammed Kaliel (June 1999–June 2001) • Muktar Shagari (June 2001–May 2003)

Women and Youth Development:    Aishat Ismail

Works and Housing :    Tony Anenih (June 1999–2003)

[size=18pt]20th July 1999 - BBC News
Several days of fighting between Yoruba and Hausa tribes leave scores of people dead[/size]

Calm has returned to the Nigerian town of Sagamu, following ethnic fighting which has forced hundreds to flee.
A spokesman for Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba said: "Obviously things are tense, but the situation is relatively calm."

He added that emotions were still running high in the town, after fighting broke out on Sunday between members of Nigeria's two largest ethnic groups, the Yoruba and the Hausa.

Officials say 25 died in the fighting, but the true picture is thought to be higher. A news agency quoted local police as saying 66 people had died.

According to one report, 36 of the dead were buried in a single mass grave - many of them burnt or bearing machete wounds.

Shops, mosques and cars were also burnt down, and hundreds of people fled the town.

Residents built barricades in the street, defending them with home-made weapons and petrol bombs.

Yoruba youths were reported to have attacked a mosque, killing several members of the mostly Muslim Hausa community.

Police brought in reinforcements and declared a state of emergency in the town on Monday, ordering a curfew for a second successive night.

Security forces have now cleared the street barricades.

Mutual blame

Members of both ethnic groups have blamed the other group for starting the fighting.

State Governor Olesegun Oshoba has tried to reduce tension by dismissing the town's police commander - a Hausa whom some Yorubas accused of fuelling the violence.

BBC Correspondent Barnaby Phillips says that although the clashes in Shagamu have attracted widespread national attention, there is no indication that tension has spread to the many other towns in Nigeria where Hausa and Yoruba people live peacefully side by side.

Dispute over festival

The conflict erupted because of a dispute surrounding a traditional Yoruba festival known as the Oro.

During the Oro, which lasts several nights, people not participating in the festival are expected to stay off the streets.

Yoruba people in Sagamu told the BBC that the Hausa community had refused to obey this traditional rule, whereas Hausa people said they had been attacked indiscriminately.

Residents of Sagamu told the BBC that the violence was unprecedented in the town's history, where the two groups have co-existed without rancour for hundreds of years.

Mining technology solution, CE&ISO authorized. http://www.joyalcrusher.com.

[size=18pt]15th September 1999 - BBC News

Obasanjo's revenge? : He orders arrest Abacha's wife - Abacha had detained Obasanjo for 3years[/size]

Reports from Nigeria say the authorities briefly detained the wife of the late military dictator, Sani Abacha, yesterday.

General Abacha's widow, Maryam, was arrested in Kano along with her son, and accused of undermining national security and refusing to co-operate over investigations into the disappearance of public funds during the general's rule.

They were released after questioning.

News story inserted for 4th May 1999










[size=18pt]October 7, 1999 - The New York Times
Five Hundred people drown as 400 villages are submerged by water after NEPA opened floodgates of dams at Jebba and Shiriro[/size]

. .LAGOS, Nigeria, Oct. 6— Overwhelmed by rising waters on the Niger River, officials have opened floodgates of two major dams, submerging 400 villages and leaving more than 300,000 homeless, the state power authority said today.

Several hundred people are thought to have drowned after the waters were unleashed in recent days from the Jebba and Shiriro dams, 300 miles north of Lagos, the Lagos newspaper Vanguard reported. The state-controlled News Agency of Nigeria estimated the toll at over 500 dead. The estimates could be confirmed.

The National Electric Power Authority was forced to release the surge of water to prevent Shiriro Lake, on the Niger River, from overflowing, the power company said.

[size=18pt]8th October 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo's revenge?: he orders arrest of Abacha's son Mohammed, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and others close to the late ex-ruler Abacha who had imprisoned Obasanjo for 3 years[/size]

The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has confirmed that the eldest surviving son of former military ruler Sani Abacha has been detained.
Speaking on state television, President Obasanjo said Mohammed Abacha was being held in connection with what he described as " heinous crimes."

He did not specify the crimes, but said they were committed during General Abacha's rule.

The government also says that two senior members of the late General Abacha's security team - Major Hamza al-Mustapha and Sergeant Barnabas Mishelia - are in detention and will soon be charged and brought to trial in connection with alleged human rights abuses.

Mohammed Abacha was actually arrested nine days ago - but this is the first time the government has commented on his detention.

Release plea rejected
Earlier this week a court in Abuja turned down a plea from Mr Abacha's lawyer that he be released pending charges, although the court has set another hearing for 18 October.

General Abacha's death last June paved the way for Nigeria's return to democracy.
His successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, freed hundreds of people jailed under the Abacha regime including Olusegun Obasanjo who brought 15 years of military rule to an end when he was elected President in May.

When he came to power, President Obasanjo pledged to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses under the military regime.

Allegations of abuses
Earlier this week he ordered the commission investigating human rights violations to extend its probe back to the first military coup in 1966.

That would include the period when President Obasanjo was in power previously as a military ruler from 1976 to 1979.
The panel has so far received more than 11,000 memoranda detailing alleged human rights abuses and now expects many more.

The commission has one year from the date of its first public hearing to complete its work.

News story inserted 20th May 1999

[size=18pt]13th October 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo bans 20 independent  TV and radio broadcasting stations for 1 week [/size]

The Nigerian government has lifted a banning order on twenty privately-owned television and radio stations which were closed last week for non-payment of their broadcasting licences.

Officials said that the ban had been lifted after the stations paid half or more of their dues, and agreed to settle the remainder shortly.

news item inserted 15th sepember 1999

[size=18pt]14th Oct 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo's revenge? :  Abacha's son charged with murder  -  Abacha had imprisoned Obasanjo for 3years[/size]

The son of Sani Abacha, the former military ruler of Nigeria, has been charged with the murder of Kudirat Abiola - wife of the late politician Moshood Abiola.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the courtroom in Lagos as Mohammed Abacha, 29, was charged alongside General Abacha's security chief, Major Hamza al-Mustapha, and three other security officials.

The presiding judge, Justice Dele Gbogodo, refused an application for bail and adjourned the case until 17 November.

The BBC's Barnaby Phillips in Lagos said Mohammed Abacha and Major al-Mustapha looked calm and relaxed and shared jokes together.

Major al-Mustapha waved and smiled at the crowd outside who had gathered to shout abuse.

Kudirat Abiola - one of the most vocal critics of General Abacha - was shot dead in a Lagos street in June 1996.

Her husband was widely believed to have won the 1993 elections which were annulled by the military when General Abacha seized power.

Moshood Abiola was jailed for his refusal to renounce claims to the presidency. He died in prison from a heart attack, a month after General Abacha himself died.

Major al-Mustapha and another accused, Lieutenant-Colonel Ibrahim Yakassai, also face murder charges over the death in prison in 1997 of Major-General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, who was deputy to current President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was a military ruler from 1976 to 1979.

It is alleged that Maj-Gen Yar'Adua was poisoned by a lethal injection.

Both Maj-Gen Yar'Adua and Mr Obasanjo were jailed by General Abacha in 1995 for allegedly plotting against the regime.

News story inserted 8th January 1984

[size=18pt]28th October 1999 - BBC News
Obasanjo starts 3-day visit to the United States of America[/size]

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is starting a three-day visit to the United States with the issue of debt relief at the top of his agenda.

President Obasanjo hopes that US President Bill Clinton will lend his support to proposals to cancel part of Nigeria's foreign debt, estimated by Nigerian Government officials to be more than $30bn.

On the eve of the visit, US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who was in Nigeria last week, said President Obasanjo and the Nigerian people were engaged in a dramatic and high-stakes struggle to establish a viable democracy.

Determination
There is no doubt that the Americans are impressed by President Obasanjo and are very keen for him to succeed a he struggles with the legacy of mismanagement and corruption which he inherited from the military earlier this year.

Madeline Albright came away from Nigeria last week convinced of his determination to fight corruption and get the economy moving again.

If President Obasanjo fails, the prospects for democracy and peace across West Africa will be gravely damaged.

"If you do not help us and for one reason or the other, God forbid, democracy should fail here again, it will be not because we haven't tried. It will be because you haven't helped us enough," said President Obasanjo in a message to Western countries from an economic summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja last week.

Sympathetic hearing

So the Nigerian leader is going to the US hopeful of success in his crusade to secure relief for Nigeria's foreign debt, which he sees as a prerequisite for economic take-off.

He can expect a sympathetic hearing from President Clinton, but the US will probably wait for the International Monetary Fund to approve President Obasanjo's economic policies before taking any action.

Some creditors argue that Nigeria's oil wealth means it is better placed than most poor countries to pay its way.

News story inserted 19th January 1999

[size=18pt]2nd November 1999 - BBC News
15 people die in tribal fighting between Yorubas and Ijaws in Ajegunle Lagos State [/size]


The authorities of Lagos State in Nigeria have imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area of Ajegunle following ethnic clashes there over the weekend.

Fifteen people are believed to have been killed after fighting broke out between members of the Yoruba Odua People's Congress and ethnic Ijaw youths.

The Governor of the State, Bola Tinubu, said riot police would conduct round-the-clock patrols in the areas affected by the violence.

The two communities have fought intermittently since last year over the ownership of the oil-rich town of Apata

News videos inserted 16th November 1960

[size=18pt]11th November 1999 - BBC News
Ajaokuta Steel plant has cost Nigeria billions of dollars, and remain unfinished after 20years of construction, as Obasanjo presides as National Assembly award themselves $30,000 dollars each as furniture allowance[/size]


There are few places in Nigeria which give such a clear insight into the years of mismanagement as the massive Ajaokuta steel works in the centre of the country.

Although Ajaokuta has cost Nigeria billions of dollars, it has never produced a single piece of steel. Nobody will ever know how much money has been diverted from this ill-fated project into private pockets.

Construction started 20 years ago, and is still not finished. A skeleton staff forlornly patrols a plant that was meant to employ 10,000.

Ajaokuta's technology is now outdated and it is more economical for Nigeria to import steel than to keep the plant going. Goats and cattle wander around the rusting machinery of the steel rolling mill.

Furniture allowances
Nigerians had hoped that the newly elected members of the national assembly would help to clean up politics. So far they have been disappointed - the members have already awarded themselves about $30,000 each to buy household furniture.

The assembly is lukewarm about the anti-corruption bill put forward by President Obasanjo. The bill proposes setting up a commission with draconian powers such as the right to break into premises, seize documents, and tap phone lines.

But many members of the national assembly believe the bill goes too far, and represents a threat to civil liberties. There is no chance of it being passed in the near future.

Abuses 'at the top'
Meanwhile President Obasanjo has set up a team to investigate abuses which took place during the last months of military rule - a period when huge sums of money were misspent.

The team is led by Christopher Kolade, a respected industrialist. Dr Kolade has found widespread abuses in the awarding of government contracts during this period. He says these abuses went "to the very top".

News story inserted 1st October 1986

[size=18pt]17th November 1999 -BBC News
Obasanjo's Revenge? :  Abacha's son Mohammed charged with conspiracy and murder[/size]
The Son of the former military dictator in Nigeria, Mohammed Sani Abacha, has appeared in court in Lagos on charges of conspiracy and murder.

Abacha, along with four co-defendants, are accused of killing Kudiratu Abiola, the wife of the late politician and businessman, Chief Moshood Abiola.

Their trial was later adjourned until December the tenth and all five transferred to a maximum security prison Kirikiri.

There was tight security around the court building, with all adjoining roads cordoned off.

Riot police fired teargas cannisters to disperse a crowd at one point. The four others charged are Major Hamza al-Mustapha, a former chief security officer; Aminu Mohammed, Mohammed Abacha's driver; Chief Police Superintendent Mohammed Rabo Lawal, and a close aide to the Abiolas, Lateef Shofolahan.

News Story inserted 6th October 1960

[size=18pt]21 November, 1999 - BBC News
Huge Fire destroys Kaduna Oil Refinery[/size]

A big fire has been raging at the Kaduna oil refinery in northern Nigeria.

It's believed to have started late on Friday, and a BBC correspondent who's visited the area today said it was still burning, casting a huge pall of smoke over a vast area.

There's no word on casualties or what caused the blaze.

Our correspondent says it's bound to lead to new fuel shortages in northern Nigeria and an increase in the price of many goods and services.

Nigeria's new civilian government has made the revival of the oil industry one of its top priorities.

News story inserted 15th April 1987