Nigeria’s new president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has announced a series of steps to shake up the country since coming to power three weeks ago, ending more than 15 years of military rule.

Sworn into office on May 29, Obasanjo, a 62-year-old retired general, has sacked some 150 senior military officers, announced a probe of human rights abuses and ordered the suspension of hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts.

He has sacked top civil servants, dismissed officials from customs, and ousted the management of the state-run electricity company.

He has also announced the creation of a panel to review hundreds of uncompleted projects begun under military rule.

The most startling move was last week when over a period of three days, Obasanjo dismissed some 150 top military officers.

“His steps so far show that he is on the right track, but he has to do a lot more in carrying out a restructuring of the polity and its institutions,” said Beko Ransome-Kuti, leader of the Campaign for Democracy, reacting to the move.

In what Obasanjo described as a “clean break” from the past, every military officer who held a senior political post since 1985 was dismissed.

Among those to go was Major-General Patrick Aziza, who chaired the tribunal which jailed Obasanjo in 1995, and two former commanders of the west African peacekeeping force ECOMOG.

Obasanjo named career soldiers Rear Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi as chief of defence staff and Major-General Victor Malu as chief of army staff.

The new command was charged with restructuring and professionalising the army, which since 1966 had lost credibility through six coups and 28 years of military misrule.

Along with the dismissals, Obasanjo also announced a series of probes, suspending hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts signed since January 1, subject to a three-month review.

He announced a probe into human rights abuses going back to 1984, when the army seized power for a second time in Nigeria, and a probe of infrastructure projects paid for but never completed under military rule.

All of these panels are to make recommendations on institutional changes to see that these “lapses” do not recur, he said, and the panel reviewing current contracts is to decide whether they should be thrown out or altered.

He also revamped the structure of government, with three new ministries created – for petroleum resources, the police and the environment – and re-ordered the responsibilities of other departments.

Promising change in the running of the economy, he ordered Tuesday the setting up of a committee bringing together government and private sector officials to do a monthly review of economic policy.

“The shake-up and reviews ordered to date are just that, probes, reviews, changes of personnel. We have yet to see what impact they will have on the real lives of Nigerians. But the signs at least are good,” said a western diplomat who asked not to be named.

An area that remains uncertain is the shape of the new government with the senate yet to approve any nominations and Obasanjo yet to make clear who will take what portfolio.

Agence France Presse, June 16, 1999