Nigeria's president orders probe into allegations of paying journalists
Fri Apr 19, 3:38 PM ET

ABUJA, Nigeria - President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered an investigation
into a published report that Nigerian government officials offered money to
foreign journalists during a lecture on honest and accurate reporting.


In a brief statement released Thursday, Obasanjo's chief spokesman Tunji
Oseni said the president was "enraged by the report (and) has directed that
an investigation be carried out."

"Anybody found liable by the investigation will be appropriately dealt
with," the statement said.

"President Obasanjo has since the inception of the civilian administration
in 1999 been waging an anti-corruption crusade," it said.

In an April 15 story, Time magazine's European edition reported that
Nigerian Ministry of Information officials gave journalists a package
containing a government reference book and a brown envelope "stuffed with
about $400" following a "lecture on honest and accurate reporting" in
February that included "requests for less negative news."

Information Minister Jerry Gana said the money offered to foreign
journalists had been "clearly stated" as optional compensation intended to
cover "travel and incidental expenses" from Lagos, where most foreign
correspondents are based to the capital Abuja, where the meeting was held.

He denied the bribery allegations and dismissed the Time article as "pure
blackmail," local newspapers reported Thursday.

A spokeswoman for Time magazine in Europe declined to make any comment on
the Nigerian investigation.

The Time story described regular payments from Nigerian news sources to
often-poorly paid local journalists as challenges to a "truly free press" in
Nigeria.

Two Associated Press journalists who were at the February briefing declined
envelopes containing money, and several other foreign journalists reached by
The AP said they also returned the money.

Obasanjo's 1999 election ended 15 years of corrupt and often brutal military
rule.

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