LAGOS, May 26 (AFP) - Olusegun Obasanjo, who takes over command Saturday of Africa's most populous country and largest oil producer, today says he favours the market over the state, but his economic plans remain vague, advisers say. Nigeria is home to Africa's second largest economy, second only to South Africa, with a gross domestic product of 32.9 billion dollars in 1997 on official figures. It is the world's seventh largest producer and exporter of crude oil and host to a dozen multinationals in the oil and other sectors. But economists here say the country of more than 108 million people has been economically hobbled for years by bad government and poverty levels in the country are still alarmingly high. Most of industry remains poorly-run in state hands, power supplies are irregular, infrastructure is crumbling, corruption has eaten into the public and private sectors and Nigeria has over 30 billion dollars in debts. Campaigning for office in February's presidential elections, Obasanjo, who ran a command-style economy when military ruler in the 1970s, preached some economic reforms, mixing public and private sector ownership and a fight against corruption. But according to Pat Utomi, a top Nigerian economist who has advised Obasanjo ahead of Saturday's swearing in, it is "difficult to say" what he will do in office until his economic team is named. "It depends on who he names. He says now he is for the market. Last time he was in power, he was clearly a big government man... But he is now more oriented to the market than he was. He has bought into the idea of a market economy," Utomi said. "I think privatisation will move forward and move forward strongly." State control and a fight against corruption are two areas where Obasanjo is expected to move early. A former head of the anti-corruption group Transparency International, the former soldier has promised to fight graft, and said this month he would allow IMF officials into the Nigerian finance ministry and central bank to verify spending. He has also promised to help agriculture, in a bid to diversify the oil-based economy. Employing more than 70 percent of the population, agriculture has been neglected for years and accounts for only 43.5 percent of GDP. The general has meanwhile publicly expressed displeasure at the recent 10.3 percent slide in the exchange rate of the naira to 94.88 to the dollar on the official market and 106 in open trading. But he has accepted that the market will need to set the rate for the currency in line with economic fundamentals. Obasanjo has also criticised what he termed "imprudent spending" by the outgoing regime which has seen foreign reserves dwindle from 7.1 billion dollars at the end of 1998 to 3.1 billion last month. He has also promised to seek relief on Nigeria's debts. A prominent Nigerian banker, who asked not to be identified, said the main changes to be made for the Nigerian economy were "relatively straightforward if the will is there". "In terms of labour, manpower, resources, everyone recognises that there is a lot there in Nigeria, if the government will free up controls, end state ownership, and fight corruption," he said. Nigeria's outgoing military rulers last month admitted a planned privatisation programme had stalled but said it would move ahead under Obasanjo.  