WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The World Bank is planning to offer Nigeria 50 million U.S. dollars to help it fight against the avian flu, the bank authority said on Friday.

    The money for Nigeria, the first African country infected with the bird flu, will come from a special fund announced at a global bird flu pledging conference held in Beijing last month.

    Nigeria confirmed the presence of the deadly strain early this month in its northern part, which prompted the World Bank to consider financial aid to beef up bird flu combat.

    The Word Bank's new financing facility for avian flu amounts to 500 million dollars, and the first grant of four million dollars went to Kyrgyzstan two weeks ago.

    The World Bank's leading livestock specialist, Dr. Francois Le Gall, expressed suspicions that virus had already been in Niger, which borders Nigeria to the north, saying the bank is also drawing up plans to help NIger as well. Enditem