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Freetown - Sierra Leone's new President Ernest Bai Koroma will visit West African powerhouse Nigeria on Thursday on an official visit, an African diplomatic source said.
Koroma is due to hold talks with President Umaru Yar'Adua to boost ties between his impoverished country and the regional political giant.

The diplomat said Sierra Leone will try and negotiate a preferential oil deal with Nigeria, the world's seventh-largest petroleum exporter.
"President Koroma will discuss the issue of a special concession from Nigeria to Sierra Leone which would reduce the prices of petroleum products in the country," the source told reporters.
A gallon of petrol costs slightly over four dollars in Sierra Leone, yet its neighbour Liberia sells it for around three dollars thanks to the preferential deal clinched with Nigeria.

Koroma's won a closely-watched vote, seen as a test to determine if the war-wracked country had truly put behind a decade-long civil war which claimed 120 000 lives and left thousands of survivors without limbs.
Nigeria played a key role in helping end Sierra Leone's civil conflict, deploying thousands of troops under an 11 000-strong regional peacekeeping force.

IOL: Koroma meets Nigerian leader

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