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OBASANJO'S FARM WEALTH

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BBC
Wednesday, 24 November, 2004,

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has for the first time publicly declared the income from his private farm in the south-west.

A spokesman for the president said he was earning 30 million Naira ($250,000) a month from his farm in Otta.

Mr Obasanjo had made the public declaration to quell rumours that he was stealing money from the Nigerian state, the spokesman said.

Africa's major oil producer is ranked among the world's most corrupt nations.

Despite the oil wealth, the majority of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Mixed feelings

The BBC's Nigeria editor Bilkisu Labaran Ohyoma says that the farm is massive and diverse, with various livestock including chickens, ostriches, pigs and fish, as well as crops.

The grounds also include a conference centre, where Mr Obasanjo recently hosted a regional summit on the crisis in Ivory Coast.

Mr Obasanjo's spokesman Femi Fani Kayode said his farm was managed by professionals and much of the money was reinvested to develop the property.

On the streets of the capital, Abuja, reaction to the declaration was mixed.

Some said Mr Obasanjo had earned the money through hard work but others said it was not right that he was earning so much money when most Nigerians were living in poverty.

One Nigerian told the BBC that it could do no harm for public officials to declare their wealth.

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Telegraph.co.uk

President comes clean to fight corruption crackdown
By David Blair, Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 25/11/2004)

Nigeria sought to draw a line under decades of corruption yesterday when President Olusegun Obasanjo declared his private income, disclosing that he makes £140,000 a month from a chicken farm.

Mr Obasanjo, the first Nigerian leader to declare his assets, told a bemused nation that his farm in Otta state yields annual profits approaching £1.7 million

The president's spokesman, said his declaration was part of a government campaign to clean up Nigeria. The farm also stocks ostriches, pigs and fish and boasts a conference centre where Mr Obasanjo hosts regional summits.

Previous Nigerian leaders gloried in looting their country's oil wealth. Gen Sani Abacha, the military dictator who died in 1998, stole between £1 billion and £3 billion. Despite scouring the world for his assets, the government has recovered less than £500 million.

Despite the crackdown, official corruption continues on a wide scale. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, earning about 95 per cent of its hard currency from daily exports of two million barrels. But about 50,000 barrels are stolen every day and sold for huge profits.

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