LAGOS, Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, 69, took a voluntary HIV-AIDS test Friday in Abuja in a move to encourage Nigerians to emulate the practice, press reports said Saturday.
But the result of the test, made as part of events to mark World AIDS Day, will only be made known to him, ThisDay newspaper reported.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 130 million people, has around 4.5 million HIV carriers, according to official figures.
Obasanjo said as he launched the National Counselling and Testing Programme that the scheme would enable many people have access to HIV-AIDS response information services.
He said that the spread and prevalence of HIV-AIDS was reducing in Nigeria.
"As at the end of 2005, the national average prevalence was 4.4 percent, a reduction of 1.4 percent from 1999 (when he took office). This is a step in the right direction but we can certainly do more.
"Our dictum should be zero tolerance to new HIV infections since this compromises the future" of the country, he was quoted as saying.
Around 100,000 HIV patients are receiving free treatment in more than 100 centres across the country, he said.
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