Washington, D.C. — There must be a "democracy dividend" that enhances the material quality of life, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said in an interview with allAfrica.com before leaving the United States after a three-day "working" visit. "If people cannot have improvement in their quality of life, sooner or later they will be questioning the basis of what you call 'democracy'".

Although Nigeria is an oil-rich nation, more than half of its people live on less than one dollar a day.

A few hours after the interview, President Obasanjo flew to Brussels, Belgium where international leaders were assembling for Monday's start of the third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These are the world's 49 poorest nations,containing hundreds of millions of people living on less than $1 a day. Thirty four of these poorest nations are in Africa.

"For all too many of those people, life is a continuous struggle against hunger, malnutrition, polluted drinking water, infectious disease, ignorance, oppression and violent conflict," said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan opening the week-long conference.

In Brussels, President Obasanjo, along with other leaders from Africa, is pursuing many of the issues he raised with President Bush in Washington. Debt relief in particular is critical, President Obsanjo believes. "If we have revenue of 12 billion dollars a year, and we have to be forced to spend 30-40% of that to service debt - some of which is doubtful in origin - it affects all other things on which democracy hangs."

Whether you call it "forgiveness" or "cancellation", Obasanjo said, "What I am asking for is reduction in the quantum of debt....just reduce the burden of debt that I am carrying. Simple."

Summing up where he hopes to take Nigeria, President Obasanjo said that with outside help, "We want to become a semi-industrialized country by the end of this decade."