Hagel, who is chairman of the senate foreign relations subcommittee on international economic policy, export and trade promotion, said the US had already committed about 600,000 dollars to an HIV-AIDS clinic at a military barracks in Abuja.

"We have come over here to look at the HIV-AIDS clinic. We need to know more where we can play a role and how we can help more," said Hagel who is on a five-nation tour of Africa.

Hagel, who is scheduled to also visit Angola, Cameroon, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe, said that the US will support Nigeria to tackle the challenges HIV-AIDS posed to global peace and stability.

According to Nigerian health officials, around one in 11 adults living with AIDS in the world is a Nigerian.

"About one in 11 adults living with AIDS in the world is a Nigerian, one out of 13 new infections happens in Nigeria and in term of deaths it is one out of nine," health minister Eyitayo Lambo said last Wednesday here, quoting a recent government-sponsored national study.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is seeking 248 million dollars annually to implement its ambitious treatment plan for 200,000 HIV/AIDS patients, Lambo told journalists.

Nigeria has about four million HIV-AIDS patients with a five percent prevalence rate, the minister said.

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