Wall Street Journal Tuesday, January 6, 1998 World Watch NIGERIA TO SELL PHONE MONOPOLY There are about 600,000 telephones in Nigeria and at any given time only about half of them work. Now the nation's military ruler intends to look to private investors to upgrade the state of phone service in the west-central African nation of 100 million people. Later this year the government says it will sell off state-owned Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd., and that will be the first of several state-owned companies to go on the block. But just how much is the company worth? The military authorities have been keeping financial matters like that close to their chests, but some within the phone company value the assets at about $20 billion. Nigeria profile: Literacy rate -- 51% Per capita GDP -- $1,437 1996 GDP growth -- +2.2% 1996 inflation rate -- 29.3% ------------------------------------------------------------------- E. Aggo Akyea 5719 Richmond Drive Madison, WI 53719 608/274-9769 [log in to unmask]