Associated Press - Monday December 2, 2002
Haruna Bahago, Associated Press Writer

In a strongly worded speech the day after World AIDS Day, Obasanjo declared his nation on the "edge of a precipice" as a result of the steadily worsening AIDS epidemic.

Obasanjo said a minimum of 3.5 million Nigerian adults and 700,000 children were living with the AIDS virus, HIV.

Incomplete records and strong social stigma meant a true count was impossible, however, Obasanjo said. "There must be at least twice that number of people living silently with the infection and its accompanied diseases," he speculated.

The government has previously estimated 3.5 million Nigerians of all ages are infected with HIV.

The disease is killing Nigerians in the prime of their lives, "undermining the social and economic security and even political stability of our nation," the leader said in a speech at a rally of AIDS groups in the capital, Abuja.

Nigeria, a nation of 120 million people from more than 250 language groups, is Africa's most populous country. It is regularly wracked by political, ethnic and religious violence threatening to split the country.

"The only choice before us is to roll back this menace from our shores," Obasanjo said.

Obasanjo cited the example of a girl whom he said had been denied access to school because her mother carries HIV.

He promised his government will enact laws "making it an offense to deny any HIV-positive person access to social services or gainful employment."

In the past, authorities often have barred Nigerians from entering hospitals and even courtrooms because of their HIV-positive status.

One in 11 of the world's AIDS sufferers live in Nigeria, international AIDS experts say.

That proportion of the global total is likely to grow as the number of Nigerians infected approaches 5 percent of the country's population, a threshold seen as critical to hopes of slowing the disease's spread.

"If care is not taken, this situation may not only grow worse, it may grow completely out of control," Obasanjo said.

Last year, Obasanjo's government won international praise for a program to offer cheap generic AIDS drugs to more than 10,000 sufferers. So far, however, the program has been hampered by corruption and administrative hassles and AIDS organizations say only a very few patients have received treatment.

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