Outgoing Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has embarked on a sale of state assets to allies in the private sector in the dying days of his administration, prompting accusations of double standards.

Critics say Obasanjo is disregarding due process and paying off his friends with the sales within days of his handover to President-elect Umaru Yar'Adua on May 29.

"I believe these sales are in bad faith," said Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee who was an influential supporter of Obasanjo's economic reforms.

"Such major decisions should be left to the incoming administration, so that due process is followed and it is done in the overall interests of the country," he added.

In the last two weeks, Obasanjo's government has sold the country's largest oil refinery, a cement factory, 18 oil exploration contracts and up to 1,000 mining concessions, among other assets.

"A fire sale will not cement perceptions of reform. The key is what follows," said Razia Khan, regional head of research on Africa at Standard Chartered bank.

Army rule

Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 ended three decades of almost continuous army rule, presents himself as a symbol of reform and fighting corruption in Africa's top oil producer.

But widespread vote-rigging and violence by his People's Democratic Party in April elections have tarnished his image.

Many were already critical of his involvement with Transcorp, a conglomerate he helped set up with friends in the private sector, which has acquired many of Nigeria's privatised assets over the past two years.

In the May 11 oil exploration licensing, the government gave preferential bidding rights to several companies, and many licences were won by firms with no track record in the industry.

Business mogul Aliko Dangote, a ruling party financier, has been a major beneficiary from the latest sales, acquiring interests in the Port Harcourt refinery and a cement factory.

Preferential rights

In the oil licence auction, the government failed to follow its own rules.

Dangote had preferential rights on a concession but he failed to match the highest offer, which came from a rival business tycoon. The Department of Petroleum Resources, which should have awarded the licence to the highest bidder after 48 hours, has yet to make a definitive statement on the outcome.

Spokesmen for Obasanjo and for the government agencies handling the sales were not available for comment.

Obasanjo himself was highly critical of late dictator Sani Abacha who allocated lucrative oil exploration areas to cronies. Soon after taking office, he repossessed many of those licences, some of which turned out to be worth billions of dollars.

An adviser to the president-elect, who asked not to be named, said any incomplete deals compromised by doubts over due process could be reviewed.

-Reuters