LAGOS, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided Nigeria with 460 million US dollars to promote the latter's economic development, local newspaper The Guardian reported Sunday.

    Don Liberi, the USAID's director in Nigeria, was quoted as saying that the new assistance package is an offshoot of the 320 million dollar "transition strategy investment program" from 1999 to 2003.

    The USAID official said the agency hoped to enhance the west African country's general economic growth by assisting its agriculture, democracy and governance, basic education and health care, child survival and nutrition, malaria prevention and HIV/AIDS. Enditem