Nigeria Offshore Safety & Security Update

KIDNAPPINGS CONTINUE

2006-08-14T18:07:00.000+01:00

Five foreigners, including two Britons have been taken by a group of armed men from a nightclub in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria on Sunday night.

It is the fifth kidnapping in the oil-rich Niger Delta in two weeks. State police have made no arrests.

In most cases, hostages are released unharmed, usually after a financial deal is struck, but analysts say the ransom payments fuel the violence.

On Monday, three Filipinos were released 10 days after being kidnapped.

A rise in attacks in recent months by militants, seeking more local control of the Niger Delta's rich oil resources, has cut Nigeria's oil production by 25%.

A British Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson said they were in contact with the Nigerian authorities, and the companies the men work for will be in touch with their families.

Shooting

Reports say gunmen entered the Goodfellas bar in Port Harcourt popular with foreign oil workers and went around asking people their nationality and who was their employer. A barman said they took away five white people.

"They were shooting and everyone started screaming," driver George Ani told AP news agency.

"They took some expatriates but I don't know how many. I lay on the floor of my car until it was finished."

Blood stains were visible on the floor.

"The kidnappers ... burnt one of the vehicles they used, maybe to destroy anything that could give them out, and escaped through the waterway," a police spokeswoman in Port Harcourt told Reuters news agency.

A Briton is among four people being held hostage by extremists in Nigeria, according to local police.

The oil workers were kidnapped at gunpoint from a nightclub in the southern city of Port Harcourt.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the reports and are urgently looking into them."

George Ani, a driver in Port Harcourt, said he saw more than ten people go into the Goodfellas club and drag away a group of foreigners.

He said: "They were shooting and everyone started screaming. They took some expatriates but I don't know how many. I lay on the floor of my car until it was finished."

Mr Ani said the nightclub attackers were wearing military uniforms and did not cover their faces. He did not see anyone injured in the raid.

Foreign workers in Nigeria have had their movements severely restricted following a series of abductions in the country's oil-rich south-eastern delta over the last week.

Nigeria is Africa's largest crude oil producer, typically generating about 2.6 million barrels a day.

But militant attacks have cut production by more than 20 per cent since the start of the year.

Industry sources say hostage-taking has become an attractive business.

The Delta is awash with weapons, unemployment is high and communities feel aggrieved at the lack of development.

Armed groups have proliferated, often linked to local politicians.

The BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says the money is often used to buy weapons and there are fears that the various often competing groups are trying to strengthen their positions ahead of elections early next year.

Release

The three Filipinos were freed on Monday and handed over to the Philippine embassy.

They had been working at the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas complex in Bonny.

There is no news on a German oil worker who was taken at the same time.

Last Wednesday, two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were seized from a ship offshore.

On Thursday, a Belgian and a Moroccan were abducted while travelling in a car.

Workers to be freed

2006-08-14T18:05:00.000+01:00

Four foreign workers kidnapped from an oil services ship off the coast of Nigeria last week will be freed, Norway's NTB news agency said on Monday.

It quoted Norway's ambassador in Nigeria, Tore Nedreboe, as saying that a deal had been reached to release the two Norwegians and two Ukrainians, seized during a spate of abductions.

Camerounians assault Bakasi accuses Nigeria

2006-08-14T18:03:00.000+01:00

WIDESPREAD discontent is pervading the Bakassi Peninsula, with Nigeria accusing Cameroun of violating part of the agreement, by forcefully taking over some villages ahead of today's handover. This is even as residents have vowed to resist any ejection, as Nigeria finally began pulling out her troops weekend.

"We have notified higher authorities (in Nigeria) about this violation of the UN-brokered agreement on the demilitarisation of the peninsula," a spokesman for the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Felix Chukwuma, told journalists weekend.

"I am very positive that Nigeria would take this up at the appropriate level," he said.

Chukwuma was referring to the alleged takeover of several villages on the peninsula by Camerounian security agents before Nigeria formally hands over the territory to Cameroun on August 14.

Reporters touring the Bakassi ahead of the formal handover saw several Camerounian soldiers camped at the village of Ibekwe. Lieutenent Colonel Ibrahim Umar, the Nigerian commander of the Isaac Boro Military Camp, which controls the area, said the presence of the Camerounian soldiers was a breach of the accord between the two countries because the territory had yet to be formally relinquished to Yaounde.

"This is obviously an act of aggression and provocation on the part of the Camerounians. Nigeria will not take kindly to this insurgence," added Major Victor Digol, a senior military officer with the Joint Task Force on Bakassi.

"If the Camerounian authorities cannot call their soldiers to order, the UN and the international community have to wade into the matter because this is a gross breach of internal protocol," he said.

Only last week, a group of youth hoisted blue-and-white flags across the region and proclaimed the secession of a "Democratic Republic of Bakassi."

But with the pulling out of thousands of troops and the removal of Nigeria's flag in the region, everything appears set for today's final handover which also signposts the beginning of the next phase in the implementation of the pact signed under United Nations auspices in June that ensures the border area's peaceful transfer to Cameroun.

The troop withdrawal follows the signing of the Greentree Agreement in New York in June in whom Nigeria recognized Cameroun's sovereignty over the territory, in accordance with a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002, and agreed to withdraw its forces and administration.

The accord was the culmination of the work of the Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission, set up by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan to peacefully resolve the Bakassi dispute and hailed as a dispute-resolution model for other conflicts in Africa.

The UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA) said in a statement issued in Dakar weekend, that the two countries would use the next meeting of the Cameroun-Nigeria Mixed Commission to discuss how to delineate their maritime boundary.

The secretary-General's special representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who described the troop withdrawal as "a very important step forward.," also told the UN News Centre that the leaders of several other countries in the region have informed him they would now like to use a similar model to resolve their border disputes.

Nigerian and Camerounian officials, in the presence of UN, French, German, US, British and African Union officials, will witness the exchange of documents that will legally seal the transfer of sovereignty.

Mr. Ould-Abdallah said the UN will have at least a dozen civilian observers in place to monitor the situation on the Bakassi Peninsula following the troop withdrawal and to "give reassurance" to locals that there will be no retribution or revenge taken against them. He said he was also confident that Cameroun and Nigeria would address the concerns of these locals who demonstrated last week about the recent changes.

Located on the Gulf of Guinea, the Bakassi Peninsula had been the subject of intense and sometimes violent disputes between the two countries for dozens of years when Cameroun referred the matter to the ICJ in 1994.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that Nigeria should turn over Bakassi, which has offshore oil deposits and is rich in fisheries to her eastern neighbour, Cameroun after a decade-long dispute that nearly brought the two to war in 1981.

Nigeria and Cameroun have since 1993 disputed ownership of the Bakassi peninsula, a 1,000-square-kilometre (400-square-mile) patch of Atlantic coastal swamp with access to coveted fishing grounds.

The dispute led to bloody clashes between troops of the two neighbouring countries stationed each side of the territory.

Yaounde dragged Abuja in 1994 to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, which after years of legal wrangling ruled in favour of ceding the territory to Cameroun.

Nigeria rejected the ICJ ruling, saying that it did not take into account the interests of Nigerians living in Bakassi. The United Nations intervened and the two countries set up a UN-chaired joint commission to solve the crisis.

Nigerian President Obasanjo and his Camerounian counterpart Paul Biya on June 12 signed a deal under which Nigeria agreed to withdraw its troops from Bakassi "within 60 days" and hand over the territory to Cameroun.

Under the deal, signed in the presence of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the islands of Atabong and Abana, which form the western part of Bakassi, will continue to be administered by Nigeria for two years after the withdrawal.

It also stipulates that Nigerians living in southern Bakassi will have up to two years to decide whether to remain Nigerian citizens living in Cameroun, to take Camerounian nationality or to return to Nigerian soil.

DAILY CHAMPION

According to the Nigerian Tribune...

2006-08-14T05:53:00.000+01:00

Nigeria's ruling political party - the Peoples Democratic Party - is set to form a committee that will amend its constitution to create the position of president for life for the current President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Sources said the decision was reached during an all-night meeting involving President Olusegun Obasanjo, 18 People's Democratic Party (PDP) state governors, and some deputy governors held at his villa.

It was said that the secretary to the government of the federation, Uffort Ekaette, PDP national chairman, Dr Ahmadu Ali, the Jigawa state governor, Dr Saminu Turaki, were also in attendance at the meeting.

Apparently, two of the governors presented speeches which praised the president, and suggested the creation of a special place for him "hereafter".

The governors said Obasanjo, in this special position, would be a guide to the party, and would partake in crucial decision making matters that affected both the party and the government.

There is not yet any indication if the newly created post for Obasanjo has the support of the majority, but many believe that he needs to redeem his image after his failed third term and Interim National Government (ING) bid.

Obasanjo recently pushed for the creation of an interim government in Nigeria, citing the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not ready for the 2007 elections.

Fears that Obasanjo might want to hold on to power at any cost have only fuelled rumours of him pushing for an ING in Nigeria.

Obasanjo also recently submitted a proposal to the national assembly to have the constitution ammended making provision for a third term. The national assembly subsequently refused to ammend the constitution.

Ogoni: Oral Intervention at the Working Group on Minorities 2006

2006-08-14T05:39:00.000+01:00

At the 12th Session of the Working Group on Minorities, MOSOP highlights the situation for the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, calls for a conditional moratorium on oil production and UNHCR action concerning Ogoni refugees in the Benin Republic.

Human Rights Council
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
12th Session of the United Nations Working Group on Minorities
Geneva
Switzerland
8th –11th, August, 2006

Agenda Item 3a. Reviewing the Promotion and Practical Realization of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.

Mr. Chairperson,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this august gathering. I am Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, a representative of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), the umbrella organisation for the about seven hundred thousand Ogoni Indigenous minority in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

The Ogoni story exemplifies the case of the reported violations by the Nigeria government and multinational corporations, of all the human rights standards that the United Nations set out to protect when it was formed some sixty years ago and which is still continuing in this early years of the 21st century with raven ferocity.

Mr.Chairperson, it is worthy to note that since Nigeria’s return to civil rule about seven years ago, it is alleged that rather than embarking on programmes that will ensure the protection of our physical existence and recognition of our identity as a group, as stated in Article 1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Minorities(UNDM), the Nigeria government has continued with a privatisation and liberalization programme that requires the intensification of the exploitation of oil and gas which has resulted in the massive destruction of our environment and its resources. This has led to unplanned movements and driven many Ogoni people and other Niger Delta communities to extreme poverty and possible extinction. On the onset of the regime, it is estimated that about 75% of the Ogoni population live below poverty line, today that has increased to 85% percent of the population.

Last year, Mr.Chairperson, the Nigerian government took the encouraging step of submitting their combined periodic reports which fell due and outstanding since 1994 to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The MOSOP submitted a Shadow Report to the Committee. In our report, we highlighted the critical need for the Nigeria State to include the ethnic and religious variables which were lacking in the state report as a requirement in the impending National Population Census that was to be conducted. This is a serious requirement under Article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination(ICERD)which is also reinforced in Article 1 of the UNDM. This is very crucial for the recognition of our identity as a people and that of other minorities that has been assimilitated into larger cultures and ethnicities. The fulfillment of this requirement would have ended the myth of the claim of large population by some ethnic and religious groups.

Sadly, reports came to our attention that the majority Hausa/Fulani led by their emirs protested against the inclusion of these variables in the census and the Nigeria government in flagrant disregard of the CERD Recommendations as contained in the document CERD/C/NGA/CO/18 which calls for the inclusion of indicators disaggregated by ethnicity, religion and gender in the Population Count has conducted the National Population Census without the inclusion of these variables. Thus, denying us yet another opportunity of recognizing our identity and that of other minorities in Nigeria.

Non Recognition/Non Development of Minority Languages

Mr.Chairperson, one of the greatest assaults on our collective identity as a people is the alledged commission of cultural genocide by the Nigeria government through the systematic destruction of our language, the carrier of our identity. Articles 1.1, 4.1-4 of the UNDM requires the Nigerian State to put in measures to protect and promote the development of our language.

The Federal language policy actively protects and promotes the development of the language of the majority ethnic groups of Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo by making them part of the national curriculum while neglecting the languages of most minorities. The constitutionalisation of this act of discrimination by the government is provided for in section 55 of the 1999 Nigeria constititution which states that the business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English and in Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba when adequate arrangements have been made therefor.

It will interest you to note Mr. Chairman that as I speak here today, I cannot read nor write in my language, not because I chose to but because I have never had the opportunity of learning my language as it was never part of my school curricula. Such is the fate of thousands of members of my generation.

Forced Evictions, Refugee Situation and Population Movements

Mr.Chairperson,last year, we brought to the attention of this Working Group the forced evictions of a large number of members of the nearly eight thousand Ogoni population resident in the Agip Shanty town in Port Harcourt who were becoming victims of multiple discriminations and violations. Following the occupation of Ogoni in 1993-1998 by the government’s Internal Security Task Force which embarked on an alleged scotched earth policy of raping, torturing and arresting of individuals and the summary burning down of whole communities and homes, most Ogonis fled from their homes to take solace in the shanty towns where they built new houses at great costs while others went on exile.

Unfortunately, in the early part of last year, it has been reported and I have witnessed the Rivers State government’s demolition of these shanty towns without providing alternative accommodations or payment of compensations to these people. More than one year after the demolition and forced evictions, most of the victims are still living like fugitives while eleven persons had died. Such is the pitiable situation of Nigeria’s minorities.

Incidental to the above is the case of nearly two thousand Ogoni people who fled into exile and were uprooted from their roots in the wake of the militarisation of Ogoni by the then military dictatorship and the one thousand five hundred who are still left stranded at the UNHCR Camp in Benin Republic, whose situation we have brought to the attention of this Working Group since 2001.

While expressing our thanks to countries that have extended their hands of fellowship and provided homes to persecuted Ogoni people over the years and gratitude to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for their humanitarian commitment to the Ogoni people, we wish to restate that the slow pace of attention and focus on the remaining Ogoni refugees at the UNHCR Camp in Benin is casting a somewhat dark shadow on the work of the refugee commission. A solution is needed.

Ogoni and Shell Relationship

Mr. Chairperson and members of this Working group, I wish to inform you that in the coming months, Ogoni will be moving into another stage of differences with Shell Petroleum Development Company and the Nigerian government. By the Middle of last year, the Federal government announced a Peace Process between the Ogoni people and Shell Petroleum Development Company and appointed a facilitator for that process. As a responsible organization committed to dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the Ogoni crisis, though not without our own misgivings,MOSOP had welcomed the process stressing that so long as the process is transparent and genuine, we would be willing to participate in it.

Events in the past months are pointing to serious difficulties. While it was generally agreed in the facilitator’s Joint Draft Concept Paper that Shell suspends all activities in Ogoniland until all issues have been sorted out, it has been reported that the company has been trying to enter Ogoniland without engaging in the proposed talks with the active connivance of the Nigerian government. Shell is presently trying to build a gas plant in the Ogoni community of Ban Ogoi.We are also receiving reports that with the support of the Federal Government, the company is planning to embark on a remediation of Ogoniland that has not been discussed with the Ogoni people and is also outside the Peace Process. This is a recipe for crisis. We ask that the Working Group on Minorities draw attention to this serious situation.

Realizing the discriminatory impacts of the 1978 Land Use Act and the Petroleum Decree of 1969 which divests the Ogoni people and other oil bearing minorities of their rights of ownership and possession of land and their rights of participation/consultation in the economic exploitation of the oil resource which have implication on their rights as eloquently expressed in Article 4.5 of the UNDM and Article 2 of ICERD, the CERD in 2005 had recommended the repeal of the 1978 Land Use Act and the 1969 Petroleum Decree. Till this moment, the government has not taken any serious step aimed at addressing these issues.

Political Participation and Accountability

Members of this august gathering, the Nigeria government have repeatedly touted the creation of local government areas as a way of dealing with problems of Nigeria’s minorities. State and Local government creation exercises in Nigeria is what the Late Ken Saro Wiwa described as the most illogical, quixotic and unabashedly shameful practice of the Nigeria government.

According to the late Sage, Obafemi Awolowo, “in a true federation, every ethnic group whether big or small is equal”. But what is equal in a Nigerian Federation where the Hausa/Fulani with a little contribution to the national coffers in terms of revenue, have above two hundred and seventy(270) local government areas spread into eleven(11) states while the Ogonis are consigned to just four(4) local government areas. Even in terms of population proportionality, this is undermining the rights of the Ogoni.

Mr. Chairperson, the exercise of State and local government creations in Nigeria were largely driven by the motive of transferring the enormous revenues generated from the resources of the Niger Delta to the majority territories as states and local governments became the platform for the distribution of the Federal revenue otherwise called National Cake while at the same time giving a semblance of devolving power to the minorities. A recent Human Rights Watch report from April, 2006 provides greater details about this situation.

As the elections of 2007 draws near, political violence is now on the increase, for example, the murder of a prominent politician a week ago and it is reported that politicians have begun to amass small arms in preparations for the elections reminiscent of the 2003 experience. Our organization has prepared a fuller report on this situation. The security of lives of the ordinary citizen is being greatly compromised. It is alledged that with no control over the security agencies, minority nationalities that at the moment have no adequate and constructive mode of participation are going to be consumed in the unfolding battle for power.

Exoneration of the Ogoni Nine

Mr. Chairperson, The right to redress, as set forth in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and numerous other instruments, is a key right in international human rights law. It is a key preventive measure against cycles of further conflict and violations of human rights. Redress will provide the ground from which sorely needed reconciliation and the protection of human rights can grow.

The international community will remember that on November 10, 1995, Nigerian writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight fellow activists of the Ogoni People-The Ogoni 9 were hanged by the military government of Nigeria. In resolution A/RES/50/199, the General Assembly condemned the executions as arbitrary and the tribunal as flawed and send a fact finding mission to Ogoni. The Secretary General presented the mission’s findings to the Fiftieth Session of the General Assembly in A/50/960.

The mission condemned the tribunal, stating that it did not have jurisdiction to try the Ogoni Nine, and did not conform to applicable international and regional human rights law, or to domestic law. The mission recommended redress to the Ogoni People including financial relief to the survivors and assistance in improving the socio-economic conditions of the Ogoni people and the Niger Delta in general.

However, nearly eleven years since the execution, the Nigerian government, now under civilian rule, has failed to address the plight of the Ogoni people and to protect their human rights. The recommendations of the Secretary-General’s fact finding mission and the African Commission have been completely ignored. Despite President Obasanjo’s stated commitment of May 2002 to clearing the names of the Ogoni Nine, the Nine remain convicted of a crime for which they were unjustly accused and unfairly tried.

This is happening in our view because Ken Saro Wiwa and his fellow colleagues are from a minority ethnic group and discriminated against. We make this assertion based on the fact that the current President of Nigeria, General Obasanjo from the majority Yoruba tribe was accused and condemned in 1995 for Treason-the highest crime to be committed against a nation-state. In 1998, he was released from Prison, cleared of the crime and subsequently won elections to become Nigeria’s President. It is instructive to note that by Nigeria’s constitution, no condemned person is eligible to contest elections into any political office. General Obasanjo was able to contest because he was cleared of the crime on the basis that he was unjustly tried and condemned. The same situation that applies to Ken Saro Wiwa and co.

In the light of the foregoing, we wish to recommend as follows:

That the Working Group:

1. Urges the Nigeria government to set up a process of clearing of the names of the Ogoni Nine.

2. Calls on the Nigeria government to provide adequate protection mechanism for minorities in the constitution and government policies and programmes.

3. Calls on the Nigerian government to provide an enabling environment for the conduct of free and fair elections in 2007

4. Prevails on the Nigerian government to provide a mechanism that will lead to the equal and proportional representation of Ogoni people with other nationalities in the forth coming elections as the present situation appears to completely marginalize the Ogoni people in political representation.

5. Calls on the Nigeria government to take active step in removing the veil of impunity that is perceived to surround political and electoral violence in Nigeria.

6. Pressures the Nigeria government to stop the crude and damaging process of economic liberalization and privatization that is driving the vast majority of members of oil bearing minorities to extreme poverty.

7. Asks the Nigerian government to stop the ongoing militarisation of the Niger Delta and withdraw all its military officers from the area.

8. Calls on the Rivers State Government to pay compensation to those whose homes were demolished during the demolition of Agip Shanty Town.

9. Calls on the Nigeria government to respect the decisions of International Human Rights bodies and implement the various recommendations of the 67th session of CERD which affects minorities.

10. Calls on the Nigeria government to promote multicultural education in schools especially to put in a national process of minority language education. The present reification of three languages should be stopped

11. Requests Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria to suspend all activities in Ogoni until all the matters is resolved.

12. Requests that a well defined process of improving the socio-economic conditions of the Ogoni People is put in place by the Nigeria government as a matter of urgency. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has failed the Ogoni people. Only one project has been implemented between 2000-2004. (See the previous MOSOP report, “More than Rhetoric” for further information

We also request that:

1. A moratorium be placed on oil production until and when an environmental audit has been done in Ogoni

2. The Independent Expert on Minorities’ issues consider visiting Nigeria for her to better appreciate the situation that Nigeria’s minorities face.

3. The UNHCR expedite actions on remedying the situation of Ogoni refugees in the UNHCR Camp in Benin Republic.

Thank you.

Legborsi Saro Pyagbara
International Advocacy Officer
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)

Bakassi Peninsula Becoming Part of Cameroun Today

2006-08-14T05:33:00.000+01:00

BARING any unforeseen hitch, Nigeria is expected to hand over the disputed oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to the Cameroun today. Preparations for the eventual withdrawal of Nigerian troops ahead of the handing over today had begun at the Isaac Boro camp in Atabong where the 26 Battalion of the Nigerian Army was stationed.

Journalists were permitted to witness the withdrawal of the troops from the area paving the way for the formal handing over of the territory to the Cameroun.

The withdrawal of the 26 Battalion was a solemn sight as the Nigerian flag, the Army flag and the Battalion flag were lowered amidst tears from the locals who stood to watch, including the Vice Chairman of Bakassi Local Government, Hon. Udeme Okon.

Okon who barely managed to control his emotion while speaking with newsmen, lamented that Nigerian troops were withdrawn when his people had not been relocated or resettled as agreed and promised by government. He also regretted the fact that the plan to replace the Nigerian soldiers with men of the Mobile Police Force was yet to be effected before the withdrawal thereby leaving the Bakassi people at the mercy of the ‘merciless’ Cameroun gendarmes.

Briefing newsmen earlier in Calabar on the same day on plans for the troop withdrawal, the Director of Operations, Defence Headquarters of the Nigerian Army, Major General Steve Guar, disclosed that the final pull out of the Nigerian troops would be effected later in the day (Friday, 11 August 2006) and that the formal handing over would be done on Monday, 14 August, 2006.

He admitted that following the Nigerian military’s withdrawal coupled with the invasion of the area by the Cameroun gendarmes, tension and apprehension were high but that they had no choice but to obey international judgment and agreement. He confirmed the reports that some youths of Bakassi had vowed to seek self-determination than subject themselves to the authority of the Camerounian government, saying, “we are aware that some youths of Bakassi clandestinely on the 6th of August hoisted flags in different places in thearea, claiming an independent state but that his men had been instructed to pull down the flags which were five in number.

The places Nigerian Tribune visited to confirm actual pull out of the Nigerian troop included Atabong east and west, Ibekwe, Boro Camp, Sand-Sand, Akpafia and Abana.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to minimise tension after the hand over of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun, a highway linking the two countries is to be constructed to boost interactions between their people.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that the highway was part of confidence building measures towards permanent peace.

According to him, Nigeria had since fulfilled its part of the bargain in respect of the road project which will ultimately form part of a West -Central African highway.

Harping on the need to empower inhabitants of the border areas, Baba-Ahmed said that friction would be minimised if the communities were economically secure.

“The idea is to resolve conflict in the long run by encouraging trade and social interactions. Obviously, people who interact are not likely to fight each other,” he said.

Baba-Ahmed said that Nigeria had an excellent understanding with Camerounian authorities as both countries strived to contain local problems created by the October 10, 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgement.

“We all realise that the judgement will create such localised problems but we are both committed to handling such internal matters in the spirit of give and take.

“Nigeria from the outset approached this issue with an open mind. We have done the right thing and the rest of the world must understand with us. We have gone as far as it is possible,” he said.

Another Company Pulling Immediately Out of Niger Delta

2006-08-12T05:56:00.000+01:00

Following threats of kidnapping of its staff and the deteriorating security situation in the Niger Delta, construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, has decided to move out of the region completely and immediately.

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this at the occasion of the inauguration of the 'State Council on Social Development,' in Yenagoa yesterday.

Jonathan said the decision of the compay is informed by the increase rate of kidnapping and particularly the recent kidnap of a German citizen in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, by militants.

The Governor warned that in view of this and the consequence of it to the development of the region, government has decided to take drastic measures against the militants. "We cannot continue to be taking people, contractors that are working for us hostage, this must stop".He warned.

Jonathan was particularly hard on community leaders who continue to harbour known militants by creating a safe haven instead of exposing them.

Said he: "Any community that encourages these criminal tendencies must be ready, as government will invade them. So if you are encouraging this kidnapping, because when we talk about Kaiama Declaration, everybody knew that the people had focus. They did not just go and hold contractors or kidnapped white men who are working"

His made it clear that kidnapping oil workers is not part of the Niger Delta struggle hence, "those communities too must be ready to be invaded, we will send the Navy. If the community is about 500 people, we will send 500 naval personnel to stay with them; I think they will be comfortable having them".

"What is happening in the state and the Niger Delta region is another way of the youths telling those of us who are over seeing the activities of state not to think about development", he lamented.

Jonathan also stressed: "If the youths don't want development they should tell us so that at the end of the months we share the money and go to sleep because a situation where companies working , Julius Berger is working, then youths will go and kidnap staff of the those working for us is regrettable."

"In Port Harcourt they have kidnapped a German, only yesterday one of the management told me two of their people have resigned. Today I got a call from Abuja that Julius Berger is pulling out of Bayelsa and Rivers" the governor lamented.

He disclosed that already the company was to handle the East-West road dualisation from the Port Harcourt to Kaiama in the state, "but now that they are pulling out, your road is going to continue to remain bad" he told the people.

Foreign Oil Workers in Nigeria Worry About Attacks, Abductions

2006-08-11T19:36:00.000+01:00


By Gilbert da Costa Abuja, Voice of America 11 August 2006

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Militant patrols creeks of Niger Delta area of Nigeria (File photo)

Foreign oil workers in Nigeria have every reason to be worried, amid mounting attacks and abductions by militants hoping to pressure the government into sharing more of the country's oil wealth with the impoverished region. Some oil companies are reviewing their operations in the troubled region.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer, and derives about 95 percent of its export earnings and 40 percent of its gross domestic product from oil sales.

The current wave of attacks on the oil industry by militants in the Niger Delta has the potential of crippling the national economy.

Already, oil production is down by at least 500,000 barrels per day, and, now, foreign workers, who play a very important role in the sector, are being targeted, raising serious concerns about their personal safety.

Kelvin Ebiri, a journalist in Port Harcourt, a leading oil city in the delta, with a large expatriate community, says most foreign oil workers are jittery about the growing violence.

"There is this fear among the expatriate community, because several people have been kidnapped, and up till now, nobody has been able to say precisely where they are being kept," he said. "Last week, Wednesday, or so, they kidnapped a German, on Friday they kidnapped three Philippines, and, just yesterday, a Moroccan and a Belgian. And, up till now, nobody knows their whereabouts. This thing is raising cause for concern, and some of the white men I spoke to, they are really jittery."

At least one international oil company has announced plans to pull out of its Nigeria operations because of the violence. Others are reviewing security procedures.

The government's initiative to address years of neglect in the region has received very little support in the impoverished Niger Delta. Daniel Ebahor, head of the Niger Delta Peace Foundation, a non-governmental group, says the authorities should consider other options in dealing with the crisis.

"The issue in the Niger Delta goes beyond what people look at, it is more of a political problem," he said. "Government just has to be proactive in ensuring that people are engaged. The youths need to be engaged, and the government, too, needs to carry out a kind of reformative policy, in terms of the reorientation of the Niger Delta youths."

More than 30 oil workers have been kidnapped this year. All of them have been released after ransom was paid.

Oil Flowing Again on Bonny Island

2006-08-11T04:49:00.000+01:00

Oil has started flowing again through a Nigerian pipeline that carries Bonny Light crude produced in a joint venture by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA), Nigerian oil sources said Thursday.

Shell declared force majeure on 180,000 barrels a day of oil output late July following an unexplained leak at the pipeline.

A spokeswoman for Shell in London also confirmed the pipeline was back in use Thursday.

"A temporary measure is in place and this means that oil has started flowing again," a source with state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., told Dow Jones Newswires.

An NNPC marketing source also said he'd been told by Shell that it would be able to meet commitments to buyers for late August and all of September.

NNPC holds a 55% stake in the venture.

Shell's spokesperson said that eight out of the nine flow stations which had been closed due to the pipeline leak were operational and being ramped up Thursday.

She said when fully operational, the pipeline's output would reach 173,000 b/d.

The spokesperson also said work is being carried out at the ninth flow station, which would be opened at a later date. When operation the ninth flow station would boost production by an extra 7,000 b/d.

The spokesperson said there is however, no update regarding Shell's force majeure.

News that Nigerian crude oil is returning to the market should ease traders' concerns.

Ethnic disruptions in recent months have affected as much as 800,000 b/d, or a third of Nigeria's crude output.

U.S. oil prices also rallied to near record levels of $78.40/bbl Monday, after BP PLC (BP) Sunday said it began a shutdown of its Prudhoe Bay operations in Alaska.

The Department of Energy also said Wednesday that petroleum inventories were drawn down more than analysts expected.

DOW JONES MARKET WATCH

More on Recent Abductions

2006-08-11T04:42:00.000+01:00

Gunmen in military fatigues seized two foreign oil workers in southern Nigeria early Thursday, the latest violence targeting the petroleum industry in Africa's largest producer, authorities said.

The workers _ a Belgian and a Moroccan _ were abducted as they traveled through the southern city of Port Harcourt, where many international energy firms make their bases, Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi said.

A private security official said the captors wore camouflage uniforms in the style of Nigeria's military. The security worker, citing witnesses, spoke on condition of anonymity due to company prohibitions against speaking to reporters.

Southern Nigeria, where most of the country's crude oil is pumped, has seen an increase in violence against the petroleum industry in recent days. The attacks have forced a nearly 20 percent reduction of Nigeria's usual 2.5 million-barrel daily production, helping send crude prices soaring in international markets.

The abductions came a day after gunmen stormed a supply boat in the Gulf of Guinea heading to offshore oil rigs, kidnapping four Norwegian and Ukrainian workers in a raid on the vessel owned by a Norwegian shipping firm.

Norwegian Ambassador Tore Nedreboe said the captors apparently were not after a ransom from boat owner Trico Supply, but were using the kidnapping to broker a financial deal with a Nigerian oil company.

"This Nigerian oil company has recently concluded an agreement with a part of the local community, and the kidnappers, they want to be included in that agreement," he said.

Nedreboe would not identify the oil company or give details on what the kidnappers wanted. The Norwegian news agency NTB identified the two Norwegians as ship captain Jarle Johansen, 45, and chief machinist Roger Bjerkaas, 40.

Last week, militants in camouflage uniforms seized a German oil worker in Nigeria's troubled delta region. A group calling itself the Movement for the Niger Delta People claimed responsibility, but police said the group was unknown.

The group sent an e-mail to reporters this week containing a message purportedly written by the hostage and including a picture of a man wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans and crouching among lush vegetation. The message said the hostage was being treated well and wanted to go home.

Germany's Foreign Ministry would not confirm the information in the e-mail, saying only it was working to secure the release of the hostage.

Militants have kidnapped oil workers to bargain for a greater share of the wealth. More than 30 have been abducted this year, including three from Port Harcourt. Most of the kidnappings end peacefully.

The militants say that residents remain deeply impoverished while government officials and oil companies are growing rich.

BARELY two weeks after 16 indigenous oil workers and eight soldiers regained their freedom in the deep swamp of Bayelsa State, four expatriate oil workers-- two Norwegian and two Ukrainian nationals-- were yesterday abducted by armed youths in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa State.

The latest incident, Vanguard learnt, occurred at about 2 a.m. at the Dolphin rig owned by Peak Petroleum, some 28 nautical miles off the Atlantic coast of Nigeria in the local government area which has been the hot bed of community agitation lately.

Security men on duty were said to have been caught napping by the youths said to have braved the turbulent ocean under the cover of darkness.

Although no life was lost in the operation during which the youths stormed the oil facility in several speedboats and whisked away their captives identified as a captain, chief officer, chief engineer and an engineer to an unknown destination, Vanguard gathered that the incident formed part of the agenda of yesterday's executive council meeting of the state government.

The abductors came from aggrieved communities the company allegedly failed to carry along following Monday's recognition of only nine communities as its hosts.

During the Monday meeting in Yenagoa, a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the company and the nine host communities of Bilabiri 1 & II, Amatu I & II, Ekeni, Ezetu I & II, Letugbene and Bisangbene in Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw council area.

It was, however, gathered that Agge, Orobiri, Azamabiri and Ogbointu communities that have been agitating to be recognised as part of the host communities were excluded by Peak Petroleum.

The MoU which is expected to last till when production commences, it was gathered, contains payment of homage to the recognised communities and employment of 28 persons from the entire communities while on their part they are expected to ensure uninterrupted and unimpeded operations of the company in the OML 122.

Contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, confirmed the incident, adding that officers from the command had been dispatched to the area.

Also, the US-owned Trico Supply confirmed the abductions. "We have had no contact with the kidnappers," Trico Supply Chairman, Bjoern Endresen, said, adding: "But we are 110 per cent certain it involves money. Western employees were singled out and taken from the ship while the 11 local crew members were unharmed.

"We are doing everything we can in coordination with the Norwegian embassy in Nigeria and others to resolve the situation," Endresen said.

Major Saheed Hameed, spokesman for Joint Task Force (JTF), the security outfit protecting oil facilities and personnel in the restive Niger Delta, said he could not immediately confirm the incident.

Since January, militants have launched violent attacks on oil facilities and personnel in the region to press demand for local control of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas wealth. More than 30 expatriate oil workers have been kidnapped in the past seven months and released after spending days or sometimes weeks in captivity.

VANGUARD

More Kidnappings Today

2006-08-10T15:57:00.000+01:00

The employer of a German oil worker taken hostage last week in Nigeria said Thursday they have been in contact with the kidnappers and are confident that the incident will end with the man's safe release.

The kidnapped German contractor, whose identity has not been officially released, is "doing well" considering the circumstances, according to Herbert Bodner, chairman of Germany's Bilfinger Berger construction company, which employed the kidnapped man for the last 18 years.

Without giving additional details, Bodner said the company had been in contact with the kidnappers multiple times and that everything had been done to ensure the man's safe release.

Originally from the Bavarian city of Würzburg, the hostage said he was "alive and well," but wanted to go home, according to an e-mail released to the media on Wednesday.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Kidnappers said they wanted Bilfinger Berger to invest more in the area

"So far I have been treated well by my captors," the German man, a contractor for the Bilfinger Berger construction company. "They have provided me with mosquito nets. They have also provided me with medicines and even brought me a packet of my favorite cigarette."

The German Foreign Ministry would not confirm knowledge of the photo or the man's identity, but said its crisis response team has been in contact with the Nigerian authorities with the goal of achieving "the quickest release possible," according to a spokesman on Wednesday.

The militants holding him after his kidnapping a week ago from Port Harcourt demanded the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders being held prisoner as well as added jobs and investment in the Niger Delta region by the German captive's employer.

"We are still waiting for our demands to be met," the kidnappers said in a previous statement.

Mujahid Dokubo Asari, one of the men the previously unknown Movement for the Niger Delta People (MONDP) wants released, appealed for the German hostage to be set free.

"Asari wishes to appeal to the kidnappers to release unconditionally their hostage as he has no hand in his travails," according to a statement issued by Allen Onyema, one of Asari's associates.

Onyema added that although Asari appreciated the concern of the militants for his plight, he would prefer a peaceful means to resolve the crisis, Onyema added.

Five additional Europeans kidnapped

Bildunterschrift: Oil wealth has not lifted many Nigerians out of poverty

The past seven months have seen a wave of kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities and personnel by separatist agitators in the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas wealth. Rebels have often demanded a larger share of the country's profits from natural resources be returned to the public.

Most recently, a Belgian and Moroccan were kidnapped Thursday, and two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship off the coast of Nigeria on Wednesday, and three Filipino workers were kidnapped last week in an incident separate from the German hostage taking.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer and the eighth largest in the world, accounting for a daily output of 2.6 million barrels, but unrest has cut a quarter of that figure in recent months.

Two oil industry contractors, one Belgian and one Moroccan, were kidnapped from their car by armed men in Nigeria's southern city of Port Harcourt on Thursday, police said.

It was the fourth abduction in Nigeria's southern oil heartland in a week and follows a wave of militant attacks against the industry which has cut oil production in the world's eighth largest exporter by 25 percent since February.

"Two foreigners working for a company in Borokiri were kidnapped by armed men," said Samuel Agbetuyi, police commissioner for Rivers state.

A colleague at Dredging International Services Nigeria in Port Harcourt said the hostages were Belgian and Moroccan.

"They were taken from their car at 6:45. It was an armed kidnap," the colleague said, asking not to be named.

Dredging International is a unit of Belgium-based DEME Group and works as a dredging and ship services contractor to several Western oil companies in Nigeria.

Kidnappings of foreign workers are frequent in the mangrove-lined creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, which is home to all of Nigeria's oil and gas.

Militancy is fuelled by widespread feelings of injustice in the vast wetlands region where most people live in poverty despite the wealth being pumped from their ancestral lands.

Criminal gangs, sometimes involved in the large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines, also regularly indulge in kidnapping and extortion, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the two.

A series of attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in February forced Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to evacuate hundreds of staff from the western delta, reducing output by about 500,000 barrels a day.

The group, which is a coalition of militia from across the region almost the size of England, says it wants more local control over the delta's oil resources, compensation for pollution and the release of two jailed leaders from the region.

Willbros Leaving Nigeria

2006-08-10T15:51:00.000+01:00

Citing ongoing attacks by militants, Willbros Group said Wednesday it is selling its assets and operations in Nigeria.

Willbros, which has administrative offices in Houston and headquarters in Panama, said the move is tied to an evaluation of its strategic options that started last year, which also has led it to decide to shed its Venezuelan operation.

The engineering and construction company gained attention worldwide earlier this year when nine employees were taken hostage in Nigeria. The workers were released unharmed after several weeks.

The company made the announcement in a prepared statement Wednesday that reported a net loss of $38.1 million, or $1.77 a share, including a $39 million charge for its Nigeria operations. The company's quarterly loss compares with a loss of $9.92 million, or 47 cents, during the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased 75 percent to $119.1 million.

Willbros said its income there was reduced by about $37 million.

Mike Curran, Willbros' chairman and chief executive, said the company will dramatically reduce its level of operations in Nigeria and focus on markets that offer better opportunities and returns, including in North America.

In its earnings report, Willbros reported the Nigeria and Venezuela assets and operations as discontinued operations.

The company said it reached a preliminary agreement to sell the Venezuelan operation in late June to an unnamed party, and it is expected to close in October. Curran said that officials concluded the spread and escalation of hostilities against oil and natural gas facilities and workers in Nigeria exceed acceptable risk levels.

"The attacks of militants have directly and indirectly affected Willbros on a continuous basis since the hostage-taking incident of Feb. 18, 2006," he said. "However, since mid-June, the situation in Nigeria has worsened, with attacks increasing throughout the country. Additional production operations in the Delta area have been, and remain, shut in."

Four More Kidnapped

2006-08-10T05:02:00.000+01:00

Two Norwegians and two Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship off the coast of Nigeria on Wednesday, the latest in a series of abductions in Africa's top oil producer, authorities said.

In a separate hostage crisis in another part of the oil producing Niger Delta, militants issued a photograph of their German captive and a statement purportedly written by him in which he said he was being well treated but wanted to go home.

The wave of kidnappings coincides with an upsurge in militant attacks against the oil industry which has cut oil production by 25 percent in the world's eighth largest exporter since February.

"Four foreigners were kidnapped, two Norwegians and two Ukrainians," said Hafiz Ringim, police commissioner for Bayelsa state, where Wednesday's attack happened.

"Armed men believed to be disgruntled members of the community attacked them and took them away. Right now, we have not been able to make contact with the hostages, but we are working on that."

The four work on a vessel owned by a Norwegian unit of U.S.-based Trico Marine Services Inc. (TRMA.O: Quote, Profile, Research), which services an offshore drilling rig.

Eight foreigners were kidnapped from the same rig for two days in June in a dispute with a nearby community over jobs and investment.

Kidnappings of foreign workers are frequent in the mangrove creeks and swamps of the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, which is home to all of the OPEC member nation's oil and gas.

SIGNS OF LIFE

In two separate incidents last week, the German and three Filipinos were kidnapped in another part of the delta.

The group holding the German sent an email to the media on Wednesday containing a photograph and a statement purportedly written by the captive, Guido Schiffarth of Wurzburg, Bavaria.

"So far I have been treated well by my captors. They have provided me with mosquito nets. They have also provided me with medicines and even brought me a packet of my favourite cigarette, Benson & Hedges. I am alive and well, but I want to go home," Schiffarth said.

The militants have demanded the release from jail of two ethnic Ijaw leaders and more jobs and investment by his employer, German construction company Bilfinger and Berger (GBFG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), in the delta community where it is based.

Militancy is fuelled by widespread feelings of injustice in the vast wetlands region where most people live in poverty despite the wealth being pumped from their ancestral lands.

Trico Marine Services Inc., the company that owns Trico Supply, said it had made contact with the kidnapped Norwegians and negotiations had begun for their release.

"They are well," the company said in a statement.

There was no immediate word on the fate of the Ukrainians.

Andy Oputa, a security official for Nigeria's Bayelsa State, confirmed the kidnappings and said negotiators had been sent to the Niger Delta region, where most of the crude is pumped. Another state official said the capture took place nearly 30 miles from shore, with gunmen boarding the ship as it headed to oil rigs off the West African coast.

Endresen said 11 other crew members were aboard the ship at the time of the kidnapping but he did not give more details.

"All I can tell you is that we're working hard, putting all of our efforts to solving this case," he said.

Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Frode Overland Andersen declined to comment on whether any ransom demands were made. He said the Norwegian Embassy in Abuja was working with local authorities to obtain more details on the abductions.

The kidnappings came less than a week after militants wearing camouflage uniforms took a German oil industry worker hostage, spiriting him away on a boat into Nigeria's troubled oil-rich delta region. A group calling itself the Movement for the Niger Delta People has claimed responsibility for that kidnapping, but police said the group was unknown.

Militants have kidnapped oil workers to bargain for a greater share of the wealth from Africa's largest crude producer. They argue that residents remain deeply impoverished and benefit little from oil wealth while government officials and oil companies grow rich.

More than 30 workers have been taken this year, including three from the oil-producing hub of Port Harcourt. Kidnappings and attacks have forced a nearly 20 percent reduction of Nigeria's usual 2.5 million barrel daily production, helping send crude prices soaring in international markets.

A series of attacks by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger D (MEND) in February forced Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to evacuate hundreds of staff from the western delta, reducing output by about 500,000 barrels a day.

MEND is fighting for more local control over the delta's oil resources, compensation for pollution and the release of two jailed leaders from the region. Criminal gangs involved in the large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines have also been involved in kidnappings, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the two.

The vast majority of kidnappings end peacefully.

From Associated Press & Rueters

Daily Champion Editorial - August 9, 2006

2006-08-10T05:00:00.000+01:00

THEN the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) last month announced that it exceeded its projected tax revenue for the first half of the year (January - June, 2006), it was ordinarily a cheering piece of news. This is because, with a projected tax revenue of N733 billion given to it in the 2006 budget for the period (Jan - June), the agency garnered a hefty N1.13 trillion. That amount represents about 39 per cent more than the projected total tax revenue for the period under review.

However, the heartwarming news from the FIRS was subdued by revelation by its executive chairman, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui, that multinational companies operating in the country have been fleecing tens of billions of naira in revenue as a result of illicit tax payments or outright tax evasion. To buttress her point, the FIRS boss revealed that a comprehensive audit report it carried on the book keeping of a multinational oil company operating offshore in the country showed a startling underpayment of N2 billion naira in one particular year alone.

This discovery, the FIRS boss lamented, has caused the country unquantifiable amount in revenue necessary to attend to the various development needs of the country. Regrettable, she said, is the fact that the delinquent multi-national firms can ill-afford to do same in their own home countries.

We are not in the least surprised by the discovery of the FIRS executive chairman. Indeed, the revelation of these tax-evading multinationals has been a constant, underhanded sharp practices perpetrated by some multinational firms in Nigeria. It is a well calculated sleeze that has been on for years undetected, and it is, as incredible as it may sound, an illicit practice done in collaboration with our own tax officials whose duty it is, primarily, to ensure that companies operating in Nigeria, whether local or foreign, comply with our tax system by paying what they are supposed to pay based on their projected earnings.

Sadly, this has not been so. Instances abound of multinational companies operating in our land that have been found cheating on this scale. Only last year (2005), one of the oil giants operating in the country was embroiled in tax evasion allegations.

The oil company in question which was dragged before the Senate Committee panel was accused of doctoring tax figures to the tune of N450.74bn in 2002 alone. The oil firm was also alleged to have evaded $1.309bn in taxes and claimed unmerited $1.9bn (US dollars), and doctored pension funds of its employees. In one instance, the FIRS reportedly recovered N12bn from five multinational firms.

In fact, the case against the frontline oil company represents the same ignominious paths which many multinational companies in Nigeria have threaded. In yet another revelation, Halliburton, a Houston, Texas, USA based oil firm last year pleaded guilty before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it made illicit payments of N2.4m to Nigeria tax officials to enable it secure "favourable tax cuts". This is a smart but roguish term for evading appropriate tax payments to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

To be sure, the total tax value which Holliburton officials admitted they denied the coffers of Nigeria was $50m in just one year. Well, this did not happen, according to Halliburton, without the complicity of some highly-placed Nigerian businessmen. In fact, as at the time this tax and bribery scandal became a major public discourse, some of the Nigerians fingered in the "tax-evasion deal' owned up to receiving inducement. But nothing to our knowledge was done to them by way of punishment.

Even though the alarm raised by the FIRS boss is indeed disturbing, the above-mentioned instances are clear indicators that our tax collection system is either lax, or the operators have compromised themselves for personal, selfish gains. As a matter of fact, Ms Omoigui admitted that her staff should take a chunk of the blame. We agree completely that this was the case, and remains even only the reason why multinational firms fail to remit appropriate taxes.

Nonetheless, tax evasion and doctoring of tax figures are not peculiar to multinational companies. The truth is that local companies owned by Nigerians fleece as much in tax revenue as their foreign counterparts operating in Nigeria. Perhaps the recent revelation by the FIRS should act as the wake up call to reinvent our country's tax system. All should be towards making it a viable source of development fund.

This can be done through a robust legislation. In that direction, we suggest that the National Assembly should speed up the passage of the various tax reform bills currently before it. Such Bills when passed into law, should create accountability, enforce efficiency and punish corruption. This has become imperative because the indictment of officials of the relevant tax collection agencies in the country paints a true picture of where the leakage is coming from.

Until this is done, we may continue to cry foul how multinational companies are under-developing our economies through tax evasion and other allied malfeasance. To tighten these loose ends, we urge government to adequately fund FIRS. The FIRS should in turn put its own house in order, adequately train its staff and wean it from corruption. It will be the starting-point in the race of the FIRS to meet its challenges.

China Increases Nigerian Investments

2006-08-09T05:13:00.000+01:00

China's investments in Nigeria have increased by 3 billion U.S. dollars in the past three years, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Wang Yongqiu said here on Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks during a farewell visit to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo at the State House.

Wang said the two-way trade between China and Nigeria also rosefrom 1.1 billion dollars to more than 3 billion during his tenure from 2002 to 2005.

Wang attributed the growth in trade between the two countries and China's investments in the most populous African country to joint efforts made by both the Chinese and Nigerian leaders.

He said President Obasanjo's commitment had led to "enhanced relations between us and deepened mutual trust," adding "we are now in a strategic partnership which has led to exchange of presidential, parliamentary and ministerial visits."

The Chinese outgoing ambassador also said he enjoyed his three-year tenure in Nigeria and promised to enlighten his compatriots about the country.

Earlier, Obasanjo had challenged the ambassador to encourage closer ties between the two countries.

"You now understand Nigeria better and its role in Africa, so you should encourage closer people-to-people relations between ourtwo peoples when you get back to China," he said.

Obasanjo also requested the out-going envoy to render assistance to efforts to teach Nigerians the Chinese language.

Nigeria Wants $$ From Chevron

2006-08-09T05:11:00.000+01:00

igeria's House of Representatives' committee on petroleum has slapped a $400 million fine on Chevron (CVX)Nigerian for "irregularities" in its financial reports, privately owned Channels TV reported late Tuesday.

The committee said it investigated reports of tax evasion and irregularities made against the U.S. oil company.

"Chevron was found to have inflated its community projects," Cairo Ojualogbo, the committee chairman, told Channels TV.

He said Chevron had been accused of evading $10.8 billion in taxes owed to the Nigerian government, but said this could not be substantiated.

"When the report broke out, they quickly paid $16 million into the federal government coffers," Ojualogbo said.

A consultant hired last year by a government agency probing oil companies' accounts in Nigeria had said Chevron did not pay its full obligations to the government.

Calls to Chevron officials were not answered.

New Militant Group

2006-08-09T04:44:00.000+01:00

Nigeria has continued to be a setting of foreign kidnappers. Nigeria is to remain thus if militant groups keep coming up. This time round, it is not the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that has owned up to the kidnapping of German contractor.

Nigeria’s media received the following report after the attack."The Movement of the Niger Delta People hereby claims full responsibility for the possession and custody of Mr Didone Shephard." Didone is the German contractor who was abducted in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s new militant group demands that a former governor from this part of Nigeria and a militant be released from prison if the German is to enjoy freedom.

Nigeria’s new militant group does not need ransom. It also demands that German’s employer give local Nigerians more jobs. However, police in Nigeria claim that they know nothing about the German.

The German met his fate in Nigeria at the hands of armed militants in Nigeria’s busy Port Harcourt. Three other foreign oil workers in Nigeria were abducted just a day after.

Nigeria, Halliburton still battling

2006-08-09T04:42:00.000+01:00

A unit of Halliburton is under investigation by the UKs Serious Fraud Office over the US oil service companys part in an alleged plot to pay more than 170 mln usd of bribes to win work at a Nigerian gas plant, the Financail Times reported.

The SFO said it had carried out searches at business and residential premises as part of the probe into KBR, whose work on the project was underwritten partly by British government money.

For part of the period under investigation, Halliburton was headed by Dick Cheney, the US vice-president.

The SFO said searches were carried out on July 20 at UK residential addresses and a company office in London.

Halliburton said it continues to co-operate and is 'committed to getting resolution'. It declined further comment, the FT reported.

The Nigerian bribery allegations erupted three years ago.

Oil Price Up

2006-08-08T05:03:00.000+01:00

Crude-oil futures opened higher Monday after BP said it was shutting down a key oil field representing 8% of daily U.S. production, in a market already concerned about supply disruptions out of Nigeria and the conflict in the Middle East. Crude for September delivery was last up $1.59 at $76.35 a barrel. Natural-gas futures fell 39.6 cents to $6.85 per million British Thermal Units as a storm threat in the Gulf of Mexico evaporated and temperatures eased after a heat wave last week that sent demand for electricity soaring. Gasoline futures were up 4.75 cents at $2.279 a gallon while heating oil rose 4.04 cents to $2.13 a gallon.

Police team-ups beat Nigeria's scammers

2006-08-07T06:07:00.000+01:00

As part of BBC World Service's series on Intercontinental Cops, reporter, Jenny Chryss, explores how investigators from London and Lagos have linked up to combat corruption and fraud in Nigeria.

Globally, Nigeria has become associated with what is known as "advance fee" or 419 fraud.

Virtually anyone with an email account will be familiar with this crime, which involves sending emails or faxes to potential victims around the world, sucking them into a highly attractive but utterly false financial deal.

Back in Nigeria, the rewards are potentially highly lucrative - but now, owing to a crackdown and much-improved co-operation between police forces globally, it has become more risky for the perpetrators.

"Historically we've always had a problem getting evidence from Nigeria, but that's changing," says Detective Sergeant Mark Radford, head of the Africa desk at New Scotland Yard.

"They're keen to co-operate and bring a lot of the criminals in Nigeria to justice."

Black money

At the holding cells in the centre of the country's commercial capital, Lagos, more than 50 suspects are waiting for court appearances on 419 charges. It is a busy place.

Recently Nigeria has, for the first time ever, begun a major crackdown on all sorts of economic crime - and it is needed.

Last year it was ranked the sixth most corrupt country in the world - and that was its best rating ever.

Now, though, internet service providers who allow online fraudsters to operate will face criminal charges, while decades in jail await the scammers themselves - with little chance of early parole.

Still, with rich pickings still to exploit, Nigeria's criminals will not give in easily.

As well as the most well-known scams, others are now coming into vogue. In one - the so-called "black money" scam - people are shown what appear to be bank notes which have been dyed.

The scammer appears to show how to remove the dye, and sells the "notes" for cash. In fact, the notes are worthless waste paper.

To give credence to their operations, the warehouses and hotels Nigerians use as meeting places are usually in European cities, with London being a favourite.

Olaolu Adegbite, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's Advance Fee Fraud section in Lagos, said one man from the US had ended up paying $2.1m after been conned in this way.

"The gentleman got convinced when he arrived in the UK and the men were well-dressed, some black, some white, and looked responsible," he said.

"He was convinced, he was carried away."

In this case the fraudster was eventually caught in Nigeria and sentenced to 342 years in jail. He must also repay the $2.1m in full.

State corruption

But there is a long way to go. Allegations of corruption go to the very highest level.

London detective Peter Clark has been trailing one Nigerian state governor, suspected of corruption in Nigeria and money-laundering in London, since January 2004.

Only when he began delving into what initially was a credit card fraud case that he realised how significant it might prove to be, when it became apparent that millions of pounds had been secretly moved from Nigeria into London banks.

For years, widespread corruption has been blamed for many of Nigeria's ills. Schools, hospitals and public services are falling far short of what could be expected of a country that is oil-rich and, in many areas, highly fertile.

And there now growing evidence that the people living in Nigeria's poor Central Plateau state are worse off even than they should be, because, it is alleged, the governor has siphoned off millions of pounds from the public purse.

Specifically, it is claimed he redirected at least £6m meant for environmental improvements into his own bank accounts.

"Every so often states make a bid to the federal government for extra works within their state - and what we've been able to find out is that as a result of cheques being issued for that work, the state governor basically steals that cheque," detective Clark said.

"We've identified that portions of that cheque have found their way into London bank accounts."

However, the governor of Central Plateau continues to rule because the assembly here has elected to keep him in office, where he has immunity from prosecution.

Although he declined to be interviewed by the BBC, the speaker of the assembly, Simon Lalong, told us the money allocated to the central plateau had been properly spent.

"We invited the EFCC to come and prove the allegations - because what we had at first was just paper telling us this is the bundle of allegations against his Excellency, including the jumping of bail," he said.

"They wrote and said this is the allegation, but we said, 'what are the facts?'"

In Nigeria it is being reported that 24 of the country's 36 state governors are now under investigation.

Allowing these men to go free that is not an option for the EFCC chairman Nuhu Ribadu.

"If this country is going to change, if anything is going to work, we have to fight corruption, we have to establish rule of law and order," he says.

"We cannot do it alone, because we are fighting the power, the authority, those with the money, and we need those who are good, who understands the need of such things to stand by us."

BBC NEWS

Abducted Worker Still Missing

2006-08-07T04:58:00.000+01:00

A German oil worker remained in the hands of his Nigerian captors on Sunday three days after he was abducted in the Niger Delta town of Port Harcourt.

No group has claimed responsibility for seizing the German, who had been in Nigeria for three years with the gas and oil services firm Bilfinger Berger.

Nigerian authorities expanded their search for the missing man on Sunday, a day after local police expressed optimism that he would soon be free.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin said German officials were in close contact with Nigerian authorities, but declined to provide details of the investigations.

There has been a spate of abductions of foreign oil workers in Nigeria this year, mostly by groups demanding a greater share of the oil revenue for the local Niger Delta population.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer, but a majority of its population lives in poverty.

Two German oil workers were abducted in Nigeria in June last year, but freed after three days in captivity.

German Businessman, Filipino Oil Workers Kidnapped

2006-08-06T05:06:00.000+01:00

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria -- Three Filipinos working for a U.S. oil contractor were kidnapped in southern Nigeria early Friday, a day after a German was abducted in the region where oil revenue has caused strife between multinational companies and local communities.

Four armed men blocked the workers' vehicle on the road, fired in the air and then took them hostage, according to a colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The men's employer, Moon Township, Pennsylvania-based Michael Baker Corp., said they work for its Baker Energy unit, which builds structures for energy companies.

Kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities have become common in the West African country's southern delta. The German taken Thursday was employed by Mannheim, Germany-based construction giant Bilfinger Berger AG, which was contracted to build facilities for an international oil company. He was taken from his jeep and forced into a boat by 10 attackers, according to Barasua.

The colleague said the Filipinos worked for U.S. construction firm Baker Hughes Inc., but a spokesman for the Houston-based company, Gene Shiels, said they did not.

Shiels said two other companies operating in Nigeria had similar names but were not connected to Baker Hughes.

No group claimed responsibility for the abduction. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has kidnapped several foreigners in the past, said it was not involved.

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and a major supplier to the United States.

Attacks on oil pipelines and kidnappings by militants in the delta have cut oil production by more than 25 percent this year, adding to the upward pressure on world prices. The country normally produces about 2.5 million barrels a day.

New Abductions

2006-08-06T04:54:00.000+01:00

There are reports of another armed attack against an unidentified installation of the Shell oil giant in the State of Imo.

Still no contact between Nigerian authorities and abductors of three Filipinos and a German, all employees of oil firms in the oil-rich Niger Delta southern region.

Meanwhile, the local Guardian newspaper reported another armed attack against an unidentified installation of the Shell oil giant in the State of Imo.

According to the paper, five employees of the SuryCom, a company that works with the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDL), were killed in the attack, on which there are no further details.

As reported by local press, no official claim of responsibility for yesterday's abduction has been received, which seems to exclude the MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), the most political among the numerous groups active in the area.

The kidnappings of oil workers, attacks and sabotage of oil interests are frequent in the Niger Delta region, where for years local groups have been battling for a more equal distribution of oil proceeds.

The abduction of workers of oil multinationals is used as a political weapon by groups that demand major development in the southern regions, and as a key source of income by criminal gangs that normally release the hostages on payment of a ransom.

Nigerian authorities are working with British and Philippines officials to attempt to locate the 4 foreigners.

AGIP Blamed for Pollution

2006-08-01T15:10:00.000+01:00

The smouldering crises in the Niger Delta may take a new and dangerous turn as the five towns that makeup the Brass kingdomin Bayelsa State take on the Italian oil giantAgip Nigeria Limited over the incessant spill of oil in their waters.

The communities who have over the years appealed to Agip toseize spilling oil on their waters are insensed to take on the oil company after the recent oil spill which occured at the Agip export terminal at Spiff Town, in Twon Brass, in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Recent spill at the Agip canal in the area is so monumental that aquatic lives have been ruined as well as the economic mainstay of the people asmostof them arefishermen and women.

When journalists visited the town over the weekend the spill at the canal which have now flowed into the ajoining rivers are so thick and heavy that no aquaticlive can survive. As at Saturday, dead fished floted on the water while the bank of the river and its vegitation have started to die and wither.

Even the speed boats which are the major transport system in the area now have hard time navigating on the oil water because of the thick slugde, while visitors are residentsnowclose their windows and doors constantky toavoid the toxic smell of the oill spill..

The communities told journalists that this not the first time Agip will be spilling oill into their waters.

According to the traditional ruler of Spiff Town, His Royal Highness Serena Dokubo-Spiff, the oil company have in the past silled oilinto the waters and when the community confront the management they will say it was water and may be settle some of the chiefs and the youth atthe back while they continue their "wicked attitude."

He said that the last week spill was so monumental that some well meaning members of community will not standby and watch a company ruin the economic mainstay ofthe people as well as their health.

Dokubo-Spiff therefore warned Agip to restore their environmet as it was before, close the canal or seize henceforth to dislogde or spill oil on the water as well as commence immediately activities that would see that the recent spilled is cleaned up immediately. He also said that the company will pay compensation or restitution to the community and not the former tactics of settling some high placed chiefs and and youth in the town with pittance.

Dokubo-Spiffand some of his chiefs further warned that if the company failed to comply with their demands they may not henceforth restrain the angry youths, whilethe communities group oflawyers may proceed with multiple legal siutes againstthe company.

"The spill from the Agip flow station started long time agoand gradually.When it became too noticable and the communiities agitated, the company will select some few influencialpeople and youths and settle them, the agitation would die down while the company continue their neferous activities. But this time around, the statusquo will not be tolerated because its the life of the people that is at stake," Dokubo-Spiff said.

He said that the the recent spill is is what the communities can not ignore anymore. "My people are fishermen because of the spill over the years you cannot get the fish tom catch. The fish andother acquaticlives have either died or migrated to other waters because of the spill. Fish which is also the major food areexpensive tobuy. This is the predicament we now face," he added.

ElderEldmond Yaro, chairman, council of Elders of Twon Brass said for "aresponsible company to watch this kind of environmental destruction happen without careingmorminding its consequences is wicked and insensitive to the plight of the community.

"We aredying in silence eventhough the Federal Government dont know whether we are existing. We produce the wealth of the country and now we dont have drinking water, the one we drink is now polluted by Agip and we cannot also get fish forour dinner. What kind of country is this"? he querried.

Chief Dokubo-Spiff said that the community last week protested to Agip on the recent spill which was followed by their usual denial acceptance, saying that the spill was due toa faulty pipe atthe flow station.

AGIP Workers Freed

2006-08-01T15:09:00.000+01:00

Sixteen workers of Nigeria's Agip Oil Co., a unit of Eni SpA (E), and eight soldiers captured and held by Niger Delta militants at a flow station belonging to the company have been released, the News Agency of Nigeria reported Sunday.

The workers and soldiers were released early Sunday following negotiations involving officials of Bayelsa State, Agbainbiri community and Agip, the report said.

The attack late Tuesday on the Agbainbiri flow station had forced Agip to shut in 35,000 barrels a day of crude oil.

Chevron Output Down

2006-08-01T15:07:00.000+01:00

Chevron Nigeria, a unit of ChevronTexaco, says 23,000 barrels per day of its production are affected by a recent attack on a pipeline belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, but explained it has not declared force majeure on its commitments to buyers.

"Our production of approximately 23,000 bpd cannot however be sent through the Shell line to Bonny Terminal," Chevron said in an e-mail to Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

A pipeline belonging to Shell in the east area of Niger Delta was vandalized by unknown persons last weekend, forcing it to declare a force majeure on 180,000 b/d. Shell had previously shut in 477,000 b/d in the western area of the region.

Another attack on a flowstation Tuesday belonging to Agip Nigeria Oil Company, a unit of ENI Group, in Agbainbiri, Bayelsa State, led to a shut in of 35,000 b/d of crude oil.

The latest incidents in the Niger Delta raised Nigeria's total shut-in production to 715,000 b/d.

Five Killed in Bank Robbery

2006-07-23T02:59:00.000+01:00

Five people, including four policemen, were feared killed in a bank robbery when a gang of over 20 armed robbers attacked a bank on Bonny Island in Nigeria's southern state of Rivers, a police spokeswoman said on Saturday.

Ireju Barasua, public relations officer of the Rivers State Police Command, told reporters in the state capital Port Harcourt that the robbers also carted away 400,000 naira (about 3,100 U.S. dollars).

She said the bandits swooped on the bank at about 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Friday, after laying ambush for the police and cordoning off the Bonny roundabout.

Barasua said informants alerted the police following sporadic shooting, adding that the police moved in with other members of the joint military task force, comprising the Army, Navy and Airforce.

"The police team ran into the robbers' ambush losing four of their men and a civilian," the spokeswoman explained.

She said the robbers could only penetrate one of the strong rooms of the bank where they got the 400,000 naira before the joint task force dislodged them.

Barasua said the bandits escaped through the Bonny water front, abandoning 38 live 7.8mm ammunition, one live 7.68mm ammunition and a polythene bag suspected to the container for dynamites at the scene.

"Also recovered were 203 shells of 7.8mm ammunition and 49 empty shells of 6.2mm ammunition," she added.

Barasua said Rivers State Commissioner of Police Sam Adetuyi had directed detailed investigation into the incident while man hunt for the robbers was being intensified.

Onitsha Under Seige

2006-07-12T06:02:00.000+01:00

As the joint team of soldiers and policemen strive to restore normalcy to the crisis-ridden city of Onitsha, Daily Champion correspondent, ALPHONSUS NWEZE, X-rays the underlying issues that gave vent to the explosive situation that has consumed many lives in the past couple of weeks.

Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial hub, has in the past few years witnessed some violence, and crises, but there has never been a crisis in Onitsha so complex and intricate in like the one raging now apparently because of issues and personalities involved.

The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the two contending bodies in the crisis represent various interests and groups and each of the groups commands certain degree of influence and power.

MASSOB, which claims it is fighting for the self-determination of Ndigbo in Nigeria, commands tremendous followership and loyalty, especially among artisans and okada riders in the South East.

NARTO, on their part, allegedly has the backing of powerful elements within a powerful political party in the state, the police and indeed Abuja.

Unfortunately, MASSOB members appeared unable to control their popularity and tremendous followership. Events and some revelations in the past few weeks in Onitsha and environs have shown that MASSOB have abandoned their non-violent posture enunciated by their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, borrowed from former Indian political patriarch, Mahatma Ghandi to militant groups, carrying weapons including rifles, intimidating, extorting, abducting and incarcerating people in illegal detention camps.

Until recently, when the military took over the operation in Onitsha, little was known about the illegal and inhuman activities of MASSOB. In fact, inspite of denials, the body seems to have been hijacked by the miscreants. The movement before now was imposing levies on various parts of Onitsha, tasking people, especially perceived rich ones, to purchase vehicles, rice, beans and various food items for the movements.

At Awada, Omagba and other parts of Onitsha, these boys have gone to landlords and asked them to raise money for them to purchase vehicles and food items before this crisis blew open.

Emmanuel Nweje, a resident of Omagba confirmed that landlords in the area have imposed N5,000 levy on each house to raise to raise money to purchase vehicles and food stuff for the boys who have literally taken over strategic parts of Onitsha.

In areas like Fegge and Okpoko, they have also set up a mini-government collecting tolls, ordering for environmental sanitation, deciding civil and marital cases, legislating for the landlords how much they would collect from their houses and other matters.

But worse is their latest penchant to use the membership of MASSOB to settle personal scores, abduct rich traders in Onitsha and impose levies ranging from N100,000 to millions of naira, depending on your financial strength.

A very pathetic case and they are many like that, was a boy who came to serve his master for at least six years, but after nine months, he abandoned his master and found his way into MASSOB. He later mobilised his colleagues, arrested his master and they demanded for N500,000 settlement. His oga, after much explanation and pleas, this time under duress, parted with N100,000 because his life was at stake.

Market leaders also have similar tales to tell about MASSOB coming virtually on daily basis to harass and intimidate them, wanting to take over the collection of revenues in the markets. Some of their victims include, chairman, Onitsha Main Market, Mr. Sam Uzor, Chief G. B. C. Chukwuka, an Onitsha opinion leader who is about 70 years old and others.

However, many won't agree that these things were being perpetrated by MASSOB. Rather, NARTO elements and other miscreants have infiltrated MASSOB to cause all these atrocities in order to give the movement a bad name, such people argue. These are views shared by MASSOB information managers. Chris Mocha, deputy director, MASSOB, insisted that NARTO boys were the people who cause all these harms and blame MASSOB, stressing that MASSOB has no business interfering in the markets and park matters.

Many also would not accept the denials of MASSOB. If NARTO and other miscreants infiltrate them, then it tells a lot about their weakness and the porous nature of the movement. The recent attack on the Methodist Bishop of Onitsha, Most Rev. Chibuzor Okpoko, allegedly by MASSOB for allegedly showing the soldiers where MASSOB members were living, is a very bad case for MASSOB.

Another resident, Mr. Nweke Cornelius, said that this showed that MASSOB is largely composed of miscreants and hoodlums because no sane person would touch a man of God, not to talk of the one in the position of a Bishop. "That shows the way we have degenerated in our agitation and the type of Biafran Government we will run if we get Biafra. These people claim that God ordained Biafra, but they forget that bible said touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm", he said.

Another dimension to MASSOB in Onitsha is that 90 per cent of the members are said to be from Ebonyi State. In fact, the Commander of the Joint Operation, Lt. Col. John Enenche, confirmed this when he paraded about 31 of them last week. Out of the number, about 22 were from Ebonyi State while others were from Enugu, Imo and Abia states. None was from Anambra State, confirming the allegation that those causing trouble in Anambra State, whether as MASSOB or NARTO, are not Anambra indigenes.

Gov Peter Obi, while addressing a stakeholder's meeting at Ime-Obi in Onitsha recently wondered why it is Onitsha alone out of all other towns in the South East that MASSOB is thriving in, directing that anybody who wants to do MASSOB should go back to his/her state, and not in Anambra anymore.

However, the question is why is it that MASSOB that has been keeping a low-profile stance since, even until the later part of Dr. Chris Ngige's tenure, suddenly became a monster, persecuting, abducting and taking people hostage?

Daily Champion gathered that Ngige because of his strained relationship with the Federal Government, was rather pampering MASSOB since he could not fight from two fronts. Ngige was alleged to have used MASSOB against NARTO, in their titanic battle over the control of parks in the state. A clear case, was the Ogbaru market crisis early this year where the then Anambra State Government was said to have used MASSOB against NARTO. Since then MASSOB has assumed a different status.

It is also alleged that some politicians and businessmen in the state have been backing MASSOB against NARTO against 2007 and for their business and personal interests. So when money started rolling for MASSOB members, other miscreants in Onitsha, including NARTO boys, flooded into MASSOB and started unleashing violence on the residents.

But when Obi came in, he was not ready to do any business with either NARTO, MASSOB or any other group, inspite of the rumour that he is backing MASSOB for 2007. He disbanded the official state vigilante services, Anambra State Vigilant Services. The neutrality of Obi in banning NARTO, MASSOB and other such bodies and his avowed determination to flush them out, is not only a plus for him but also the only lasting solution to the recurrent crisis in the state.

But that is, said Mr. Kenechi Okoye, if the Presidency will be sincere and will not influence the soldiers that were deployed to the city recently as they influenced the Police in backing NARTO until this time when things went so bad, because federal government and police are major factors in the problem in Anambra State.

Enenche who is also the Commanding Officer, (C.O) 14 Field Engineers Regiment Onitsha, assured that no person whether in NARTO, MASSOB or market leaders who have been contributing to the crisis in Onitsha, would be spared. He said that as they are launching attack on MASSOB, they are also going after NARTO members and all others who have been part of Onitsha crisis.

True to Enenche's claim, NARTO has disappeared from Onitsha parks. Last week, they took their war to Ekwulobia, Igbo-Ukwu and other parts in Aguata Local Government Area where NARTO members were said to be still operating. Normalcy gradually is returning to Onitsha, while people who fled the city in the wake of crisis have started returning, as the soldiers consolidate their ground. Daily Champion checks show that MASSOB, NARTO and some market leadership in Onitsha have gone underground, while some have fled the commercial hub.

However, the operation of the Joint team in Fegge, Nkpor and Okpoko, Upper Iweka, all suburbs of Onitsha have elicited wide condemnation from residents who complained that the team have gone beyond their briefs by arresting innocent and law-abiding citizens. These people, they alleged are humiliated, beaten, extorted and sometimes women are raped.

The chairman Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in Anambra in a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo said that there have been extra-judicial executions and other rights' abuse in the Joint Operation in Onitsha. On Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at Port Harcourt Road, Fegge, Onitsha, he said, persons numbering about eight were said to have been killed by the team.

Three persons, he continued were said to have been frog-jumped and pushed inside a gutter where they were reportedly shot dead. Four others were dragged out of their house and shot dead before their remains were carried away. Following this development, residents of Onitsha fled the town, with some relocating to their villages while others took refuge in friends and relations' homes.

MASSOB spokesman, David Macdavid had also alleged last weekend that several of their members, numbering 20 were killed and buried in shallow graves at Awada, while others were thrown into River Niger by the Joint team. Residents of Onitsha have also alleged ethnic sentiments have been added to the crisis by the military/police teams against Ndigbo, saying that some of them were even heard saying in a non-Igbo language that this is the time to revenge the killings of their brothers during last February reprisal religious attack.

All these allegations Enenche and the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 9, Mr. Adewole Ajakaiye, had taken time to deny. Enenche said that the Armed Forces are the least organizations that will be charged of ethnicity because of its complex composition of all ethnic groups and languages in the country. He also denied killings and mass burial in shallow graves, since they handover suspects to the police.

For Obi, this is a major victory if he succeeds in removing NARTO, MASSOB and all the hoodlums that create crisis in Onitsha. The invitation of soldiers and his shoot-on-sight order must have attracted a lot of criticism, but observers believe that in the present circumstances where he is being accused of sponsoring MASSOB for 2007 election and the Police have actively backed NARTO, he has no option than to invite the Federal Government, and the soldiers appear to be tackling the problem head-on. NARTO have been driven out of park. Serious and consistent offensive are being launched on MASSOB and market leaders who aid and abate criminality in Onitsha are also being sought after.

Mr. Sylvester Odife (Jnr.), President Anambra State Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA) is of the view that Gov Obi's step is the most ingenious and bold move ever made by any governor of the state to bring sanity in the state. He said that the governors in the past resorted to palliative measures that suit their political and economic interests.

"This is a far-reaching and comprehensive measure. We know some people will suffer but to achieve sanity, there is need for painful measures and that is what Governor Obi has done," said Odife.

Enenche himself assured that as long as the mandate given them stands, all those groups banned by the state government must be flushed out to the last person.

Bird Flu Update # 24

2006-07-03T05:40:00.000+01:00

The most lethal strain of bird flu has been detected in the eastern Nigerian state of Taraba, bringing to 15 the number of states, out of a total of 36, to be affected by the virus, a state official said Saturday.

"Last week an outbreak of bird flu was confirmed in Ibbi local government area and it has spread to Gassol," said Yusuf Sanda, a spokeman for the state governor. "So far 20 farms have been infected and chickens killed.

"The case has been taken over by the federal ministry of agriculture for containment and culling," he said.

"The state government has set up a committee to look into the ways and means to assist the farmers. Veterinary experts have been sent to these area to ascertain the damage and the extent of the spread."

The presence of the H5N1 virus was confirmed by a laboratory of the National Institute of Veterinary Research at Vom after tests on samples provided by three local government departments in Tabara, which lies on the border with northern Cameroon.

Bird flu has been detected in several northern Nigerian states and in the federal Nigerian capital Abuja.

Nore than 450 000 chickens have already been slaughtered in Nigeria, mainly in the north where the disease was detected last February for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to Nigeria, three other west African countries - Ivory Coast, Niger and Burkina Faso - have reported cases of the disease.

So far no country in sub-Saharan Africa has registered cases of human contamination.

West African ministers last month adopted a plan for fighting the outbreak of the deadly avian influenza in the region and preventing its spread to humans.

The plan, which includes setting up an emergency fund, was agreed at the end of a one-day meeting in Nigeria organised by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) of ministers in charge of agriculture, health, livestock, environment and integration.

MEND Threatens Retribution

2006-07-01T16:02:00.000+01:00

Nigeria's rebel group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in the oil-rich Niger Delta on Friday evening warned that it would take retaliatory action against the entire Nigerian police in the Rivers State for the execution of three of their fighters.

In an e-mail to media, Jomo Gbomo, a self-described spokesman for the MEND, said the three fighters were not "armed robbers as the police claimed but had at some point in their short lives been involved in the struggle for the freedom of the Niger Delta peoples."

Abiye Nangibo, Ngowari Briggs and Abdul-Lateef Animashaun were summarily executed on the orders of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police after they were arrested respectively on June 22 and June 23.

"As a result of this (execution)," Gbomo said, "we have resolved to take retaliatory action against the entire Rivers State Police Command and will concentrate our efforts on the State Commissioner of Police and all others directly involved in the murder of these three individuals."

The MEND spokesman said the rebel group would bring an immediate justice to the bereaved families. "No policeman in Rivers State is exempt from our vengeance which will come soon enough," he warned.

He added that efforts would be concentrated "on the State Commissioner of Police and all others directly involved in the murder of these three individuals."

Since the beginning of this year, the rebel group as well as other militant youths in the oil-rich Niger Delta have launched military attacks on oil facilities or kidnapped foreign oil workers.

The Nigeria police, in cooperation with the Nigeria army and navy, have carried out a string of task force actions to counter- attack the militant youths or "armed robbers" as they are called by the police.

The execution of the three so-called fighters was one of a series of such actions.

However, the situation in the Niger Delta is not getting better, but is being worsening.

Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa or the sixth largest oil exporter in the world with a daily crude output of some 2.5 million barrels per day.

However, militant attacks on oil facilities and kidnapping of foreign oil workers in the region in the past five months and more have cut the oil output by 630,000 bpd, which directly caused a fast spiral increase of oil prices on the world market.

June in Review

2006-06-30T17:38:00.000+01:00

June in Review

June 1 thru 7, 2006

Eight foreign workers who were kidnapped on 2 June from an oil rig located around 40 miles (64km) off the coast of the western Niger delta were released unharmed on 4 June. The security environment in the region will remain volatile and further militant attacks, including kidnaps and hostage-taking incidents, are possible. An escalation in attacks across the region is expected ahead of the 2007 elections. Companies are advised to implement maximum security measures, including reviewing and updating evacuation procedures in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states. Reports that the incident involved a dispute between a local community and the company whose oil rig was invaded underline the relative ease with which communal tensions can translate into militant action. Although the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) denied responsibility for the kidnap, the armed kidnappers – now thought to be ethnic Ijaw youths – are only likely to have been able to carry out such a fast and organised attack with some assistance from militant groups such as MEND or its affiliated groups.

President Olusegun Obasanjo on 2 June dropped six ministers from his cabinet and nominated others to fill the vacated posts. The cabinet reshuffle follows Obasanjo's 30 May dismissal of national security adviser Gen Aliyu Gusau in a major shake-up of the security services. The outgoing ministers' electoral ambitions are likely to have triggered the cabinet reshuffle. The president will also have seized the opportunity to rid his cabinet of those whose support waned during the third-term debate, while surrounding himself with trusted allies; three of the key army figures dismissed in the May reshuffle were opposed to the bid, while three of the new ministerial nominees are close aides of the president. Although Obasanjo will not stand for re-election, he is likely to have a preferred successor and will want to flush out cabinet members with political ambitions and replace them with apolitical technocrats.

Union employees of Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) began an indefinite strike Monday to demand the repayment of salary arrears owed since February. The strike cut local and international service for many of NITEL's customers. NITEL currently provides service to only five percent of Nigeria 's telephone users.

Five South Koreans were abducted from the dormitory of Daewoo Engineering Construction near Port Harcourt early Wednesday. Three of those taken worked for Daewoo while the remaining two worked for the Korea Gas Corp. Unsubstantiated reports also indicate that at least one Nigerian employee was also taken. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and though no ransom demands have yet been announced, MEND stated that it might consider swapping its hostages for jailed leaders. The raiders also killed five Nigerian soldiers in the course of this attack.

Reportedly, unknown attackers bombed the home of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara, in Port Harcourt very early Wednesday morning. According to local residents the attackers stormed the home and threw firebombs in the bedroom window. Police are investigating the attack, which produced no injuries, and the working theory is that the attack was politically motivated as Opara is seen as a strong candidate for the Governorship of Rivers State in 2007.

June 8 thru 14, 2006

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced Thursday that they would release the five South Koreans kidnapped earlier this week. The announcement comes after an appeal by jailed militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari for the victims' release. MEND has stated that the kidnapping was a reaction to the denial of bail to Dokubo-Asari who is currently facing treason charges.

A group of African leaders and international aid organizations announced Friday that after a series of talks in Abuja , Nigeria they would be launching an aggressive campaign aimed at promoting agricultural reform based on the principle of the "Green Revolution" that marked agriculture growth in Latin America and Asia in the 1950s and 60s. The focus of the program will be on educating and providing fertilizer for the population of sub-Saharan Africa . Nutrient depletion in soil is a primary cause for the declining crop yields that are adding to food shortages across Africa . The program hopes to improve access and use of fertilizers in order to replenish soil nutrients.

A split in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) occurred on 9 June between members who had been for and against a third term for current Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and had issues with the way the party had chosen officials at a recent convention. Over the weekend, the smaller group of those established new offices, which were quickly surrounded and sealed off Saturday by Nigerian riot police to prevent a "break down of law and order." PDP leaders deny that these events are connected to the third term debate and say it is simply a power play by those who had been shut out of the single nomination process that determines party officials. The smaller group has unofficially aligned itself with vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced on Monday that they would no longer target foreign oil workers and would instead focus on their "real enemies." MEND said the workers were innocent and should not suffer, but stated they would still target foreign oil operations and that: "Dubious politicians need to have a taste of the action."

A faction of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) on 14 June filed court papers applying for an order to prevent another faction from using the party name. The police on 9 June sealed off the new headquarters of the breakaway PDP faction. The court proceedings underline the degree to which divisions have split the ruling party, which now has a number of rival factions. The initial split was caused by efforts to secure President Olusegun Obasanjo an unconstitutional third term ahead of the 2007 elections, but the various factions are now looking to secure their positions ahead of the PDP’s nomination of a presidential candidate in August. The current political situation is fluid and various alliances are likely to be formed as parties and individuals jostle for power. Many other political parties, including the Alliance for Democracy (AD), are experiencing similar divisions.

June 15 to 21, 2006

The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), a group campaigning among ethnic Igbos for the secession of the Nigerian state of Biafra , announced that members of its organization had been killed in a police raid last week. Reaction to this raid reportedly led to clashes on 16 June in the southern city of Onitsha between police and Igbos who burned down two police stations and destroyed several vehicles. Clashes led to at least seven dead, but Nigerian officials deny that anyone has died due to the fighting, and on Saturday, it was announced that MASSOB had been officially banned and a curfew for the region had been implemented. Anambra State Governor Peter Obi also called for a military deployment to the region if the local police could not maintain security.

On Monday cab drivers serving Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport issued a seven day deadline to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) warning them to halt shuttle bus service from the airport or face a violent reaction from the cab drivers. The cab drivers are threatened by the lower fares charged by the shuttle buses and have already successfully fought a court order removing the cab drivers from the airport.

A fuel tanker exploded while offloading gas at Apapa port in Lagos on Wednesday. The explosion is still being investigated but was likely caused by a mechanical problem with the fuel truck. The fire caused by the explosion was contained but casualty figures for the blast were not available.

A pair of oil company employees was kidnapped by an unknown militant group on Tuesday. The two Filipino workers were taken near Port Harcourt in the Rivers State by armed men who approached the facility via speedboat. The victims were employed by Beaufort International a contractor of Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).

It was reported Tuesday that Peter Obi, Governor of Anambra State, had issued a shoot on sight policy to all security forces operating to keep the peace in Onitsha and the surrounding area. However, there have been no reports of serious violence since the order was announced. It was also announced on Tuesday that Obi had extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew to the communities of Ogidi, Nsugbe, Ogboko, Ogbaru, Nkpor and Obosi.

June 22 to 30, 2006

Though the city of Onitsha has been calm for over two days, military forces began searching vehicles entering the city on Wednesday. The searches have resulted in long delays that have kept traders and commercial buses from entering the city.

Violence reportedly erupted in Port Harcourt Thursday after unknown militants engaged in a firefight with members of the Nigerian Navy after the militants had attempted to board the Nigerian Navy Ship Pathfinder. The purpose of the attack and the number of casualties was unavailable by TranSecur's deadline. Earlier in the day, an explosion also occurred at the home of Rivers State Commissioner of Finance, Kenneth Kobani in Port Harcourt . Reportedly attackers had thrown a homemade explosive device into Kobani's compound. Further details of this attack were also unavailable.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo announced on Thursday that he was dismissing eight aids to Vice-President and rival, Atiku Abubakar. The move left Abubakar with only two aids in what was widely described as a political move. However, the exact purpose of the firing was unclear except to limit Abubakar's functionality. Four other Presidential aids also lost their jobs.

President Talks of Niger Delta Problems

2006-06-28T18:03:00.000+01:00

President Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that what is expected to tranform the Niger Delta is greater than the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

President Obasanjo said in his address at the opening ceremony of Nigeria Energy Congress 2006 in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Monday that "the NDDC has contributed largely towards improving the lot of the Niger Delta people, but the challenge is even bigger than the capacity of the NDDC."

The president explained that based on constraints of NDDC, after due consultation with major stakeholders, government inaugurated a Presidential Committee on Social and Infrastructure Development in the Coastal States of Nigeria, to make stronger intervention in infrastructure provision and social renaissance in the Niger Delta areas.

He recalled that in 1999, his administration inherited a long neglected Niger Delta region which had bred an angry youth population that viewed government as isolated from their individual and community aspirations and saw operating oil and gas companies as exploiters of their resources.

Obasanjo appealed to Niger Delta youths to desist from hostage taking and other anti social behaviours and called on development partners across the world to join in restoring hope to the people

The president who was represented by Prof Anthony Adegbulugbu, Special Adviser on Energy asked youths to shun negative and disruptive activities.

"Further acts of violence, hostage taking or antisocial behaviour will only escalate rather than solve the problems of the people.

Obasanjo assured the oil companies that government will not shirk away from its responsibility of guaranteeing security of lives and property deployed to work in the area.

In his address, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru said the Niger Delta crisis is centreed on the issues of environment, safety and oil community relations.

Daukoru also pointed out that Nigeria has relied largely over the years on oil and gas revenue for developmental purposes while the industry has been in the forefront of all developmental reforms and programmes.

Power Crisis Looms

2006-06-22T13:06:00.000+01:00

Energy experts have warned that the power supply crisis in Nigeria may deepen and assume a nation-wide dimension.

The experts said that the looming crisis was due to inactivity in some of Nigeria's power generating stations and lack of maintenance on existing power infrastructure nation-wide.

But the management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc (PHCN) has said that the delay in the repairs of the Escravos-gas pipeline vandalised in February 18, 2006, was resulting in the shortfall in generation and consequent load shedding.

"As at the time of writing, four calendar months after the incident occurred, repairs have not commenced," a statement issued by the management said.

"As a result of this, there has been incessant molestation of PHCN staff, destruction of office facilities and installations across the country."

The warning also followed the incessant electricity outages being experienced in parts of the country since late last year, which had also raised concerns among Nigerians.

The experts, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend in Abuja, hinged their position on "the present serious power outages across the country, with no immediate solutions in sight".

The industry players further expressed belief that the impending crisis was compounded by the past neglect of the existing power stations in relation to their maintenance and proper management.

"A lack of long-term planning, mismanagement and corruption on the part of some of the workers of the former National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), now Power Holding Company of Nigeria, more especially by some of the technicians, also worsened the situation," they said.

"We do not have enough electricity because we do not have enough power stations," one of the energy experts said.

International standards

The expert said international standards dictate that countries should have an electricity reserve capacity of at least 15%.

"Unfortunately, Nigeria has none in its electricity capacity and that is the dilemma in our power sector. We are currently not generating enough to meet the nation's demand, not to talk of reserving some megawatts as backup," an electrical engineer noted.

However, the federal government has promised to achieve 10 000 megawatts of electricity power by 2007.

The PHCN currently generates about 3 000 megawatts of power, but about 800 megawatts are now being lost due to inadequate gas supply to fire the thermal generating plants.

The power sector in the country is currently undergoing a reform programme designed to ensure stable and regular power supply.

The reform had led to the incorporation of the PHCN, which took over from NEPA assets and liabilities, as part of steps aimed at unbundling the latter into various business outfits.

PHCN, which replaced NEPA, is being prepared for outright privatisation to ensure efficient service delivery.

Chevron Opposes Use of Force

2006-06-21T21:58:00.000+01:00

U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. doesn't favor using military force to try and end the violent disruption of Nigerian oil operations despite being the target of militant attacks, a senior company official said Wednesday.

Nigeria has deployed thousands of troops to the oil-laden Niger Delta region, where militant attacks on the petroleum industry have slashed production by nearly one quarter in Africa's oil giant.

Fred Nelson _ who heads the San Ramon, California-based company's operations in the West African Gulf of Guinea region, including Nigeria _ said Chevron favors dialogue with angry communities of the impoverished delta region as a means to end the unrest.

"We all need to get it right in the delta," Nelson told reporters in Lagos, Nigeria's main city. "Brute force does not work in the long term."

"Our strategy is dialogue with the communities to solve their problems," said Nelson. "If we can solve the problems the security issue will go away."

A 2003 uprising by ethnic Ijaw militants in the west of the delta forced Chevron to shut down swamp facilities producing 140,000 barrels a day.

The company shelved an attempt a year later to return to the fields after gunmen ambushed a boat in the area, killing two Americans and three Nigerians working for Chevron and their military guards.

New attacks this year targeting oil installations by another militant group have further hobbled Chevron's operations in Nigeria, delaying the expansion of important oil and gas projects, Nelson said.

Figures given by Nigerian government officials for exports lost to the attacks have ranged between 500,000 and 800,000 barrels daily of crude, between 20-30 percent of daily capacity of 2.5 million barrels.

Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of U.S oil imports.

But inhabitants of the Niger Delta where the most of the oil is pumped remain among the most impoverished in the country. The militants claim to be fighting for local control of oil wealth, for long under the control of a central government dominated by members of only a few of Nigeria's more than 250 ethnic groups.

Many armed groups are active in the region, some engaging in kidnapping of oil workers in exchange for ransom.

In the latest incident on Tuesday, two Filipino oil workers were abducted by unknown gunmen near the oil industry center of Port Harcourt. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Filipino Oil Workers Still Hostage

2006-06-21T17:19:00.000+01:00

Nigerian police intensified efforts on Wednesday to seek the release of two Filipino oil workers a day after they were kidnapped near the oil city of Port Harcourt, a spokesperson said.

"We are making frantic efforts to effect their release. The truth is that we have yet to identify where they are kept or the group responsible for the abduction," Rivers state police spokesperson Ireju Barasua told Agence France-Presse.

The two contract staff of Petroleum Geo-Services were kidnapped on Tuesday near Port Harcourt, the hub of Nigeria's multi-billion dollar oil and gas industry.

They were abducted by six armed men who came in a boat, according to local authorities, but no group has yet claimed responsibility for the hostage-taking.

The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (Mend) -- an armed separatist group that has claimed responsibility for two dozen kidnappings since the start of the year -- told AFP it played no role in the capture of the Filipinos.

"We have nothing to do with that," the organisation said in a short e-mail message on Wednesday.

The Nigerian navy said the kidnapping took place in Aker district, about 10km south-west of Port Harcourt.

Since the beginning of this year, 31 foreign oil workers, including the two Filipinos, have been kidnapped in the oil rich but restive Niger Delta.

Nigeria produces 2,6-million barrels of oil per day, making it the world's sixth-biggest exporter.

All of the 29 previous captives have been released without harm after periods of detention ranging from several days to several weeks.

The Nigerian navy, which has lost several men in separatist actions against oil workers and oil installations, has tried to reinforce security in the region, but the attacks have continued unabated.

The Niger Delta, the main centre of oil production in Nigeria, is a 74 000km² swamp with more than 3 500 oil and gas installations.

Militant demand for the withdrawal of foreign oil workers, Mend's recent attacks and the spate of kidnappings have adversely affected the oil industry, which yields 95% of Nigeria's foreign-exchange earnings.

"Fraudsters" Plague Nigerian Visitors to the UK

2006-06-21T17:15:00.000+01:00

Nigeria on Tuesday warned its citizens travelling to Britain against fraudsters who use all sorts of deceit to rob them, an official statement said.

"We have just received a travel advice from the Nigerian High Commission (embassy) in London urging Nigerians travelling to the UK to be wary of miscreants who employ a great variety of trickeries to dispossess people of their properties," the federal information ministry said in the statement.

Some of the tricks "include pouring tomato juice or other substances upon their victim's dress, and then offer to help remove it. They may also feign to pick an object which had fallen under their victim's seat" in order to distract attention, it said.

"In the recent past, the Nigerian High Commission has observed an upsurge in pick-pocketing, actual robberies and assault against Nigerians who are on visits to London.

"The major flashpoints of these crimes include airports, hotels and restaurants, high streets, shopping centres, markets, tube stations, bus stops and even inside buses. The occurrences have been particularly high at Heathrow Airport, Oxford Street, Piccadilly and Charing Cross," the text said.

The Nigerian High Commission said that that the fraudsters were generally white. However, persons of North African origins are not excluded, it said.

"There is also no evidence that Nigerians are being specifically targeted but ostentatious dressing, spending and ancillary actions may identify a target," it said.

It warned Nigerian travellers not to carry large amount of money on their persons, and to ensure their air-tickets, passports, expensive wrist-watches and jewellery are securely hidden.

"Importantly, people should watch out for Metropolitan Police signs which warn that 'thieves operate in this area'."

Official Radio Nigeria reported last week that a prominent Nigerian Roman Catholic priest, the Reverend Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, was robbed of his official and personal belongings last week in London where he had gone for an official meeting.

The radio did not give details of the incident.

Onitsha Curfew Area Widened

2006-06-21T17:10:00.000+01:00

Comptroller General of Prisons, Mr. Okwara Uche Kalu yesterday indicted his men for increasing jail breaks in the country.

He slammed prison warders for their lack of commitment and negligence but was quick to add that his men lacked tools to operate effectively.

This is as Anambra State extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew to six other towns in the Onitsha metropolis to avert the spread of crisis.

Expressing disappointment over the performance of his men especially on duty at the Onitsha Prisons, Mr. Kalu said the burning of the subsequent escape of 204 inmates could have been averted if the warders had lived up to expectation.

"The government is tired of jail break and the staff cannot be totally exonerated because some of them are not committed, even some used to abandon their duty post without permission," Kalu noted while on the assessment of Onitsha prisons alongside the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.

He said hoodlums would not have gained access to the prison yard if the warders on duty resisted the attack, "they could not fire a single gunshot when the miscreants came calling."

Continuing, Kalu said, "I want to seize this opportunity to tell everybody to sit up." He said that people are no longer interested in their activities because the officers are not showing enough dedication.

The comptroller general said government has improved the working condition of prison officials and needed reciprocation from the officers and men of NPS.

Kalu explained that government has improved domestic allowance, insurance scheme introduced, promotion interview conducted and door of upgrading opened to the officers like in other para-military services.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police said that traitors, armed robbers and social misfits abound in the force, stressing that many people in the service are not enthusiastic but only after personal gains.

He said there were seven reported cases of jailbreaks in the country in the last one year because of lack of commitment by the staff.

"If the first incident in Onitsha prisons was by accident, why should we be caught again napping on the second attack," stating that he was in Onitsha to see what the authorities could do about the hundreds of criminals set free by the hoodlums.

On the curfew, a statement signed by chief of staff Government House Awka, Mr. Chuks Iloegbunam said, the affected new towns are Ogbaru, Okpoko, Nsugbe Oba, Nkpor and Nsugbe, Oba, Nkpor and Obosi noting the restriction would continue till Sunday.

Meanwhile, 14 out of 204 freed prison inmates have been re-arrested.

Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi yesterday said he invited soldiers to Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State, because he discovered the state lacked security and felt disturbances in the town could lead to unexpected consequences.

Obi while fielding questions from reporters when he paid a visit to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), also apologized for the unruly behaviour of the Onitsha Market Traders when the Agency's officials came to seal off the market.

Obi said previous governments in the state rather than putting in place an enduring security arrangement resorted to mushrooming security matters and promoting quasi security organizations.

He explained that unlike the adjourning South-East states where joint Military/Police security system had been put in place, what obtained in Anambra State was the presence of unorthodox "Bakassi, Vigilante or MASSOB" agents.

He stated that he had to call in the soldiers to assist in providing security in Onitsha when he analysed the level of mayhem in Onitsha and concluded that it needed drastic measures to put under control.

"I invited the military because when I came into office, there was nothing called government in the state. Anambra State for 14 years had no Governor's Office, had no accredited hospital, had no state secretariat.

"Mbadinuju had Bakassi, Ngige had Vigilante and MASSOB and I said no, we can't hand our security to miscreants.

"That is why we handed over our security to the Police and the Military. I don't have to hire thugs to provide security for me. I want to make Anambra State see progress.

"Since we put in place the joint Military/Police patrol in Onitsha, the situation normalized and it is now under control. It is a situation where you faced a difficult situation, when you start cleaning up the mess, you see a lot of stench in the first instance.

"You can imagine it is only in Onitsha that NARTO exist. Why is NARTO not in Enugu; why are they not in Abuja; why are they not in Lagos or elsewhere? We are cleaning the process", Governor Obi stated.

On the said casualty recorded as a result of the crises in Onitsha, the governor said the figure was not more than six, adding that Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIG), Mike Okiro and Ogbonna Onovo who moved into the state, did a marvelous job. "I know the situation is getting better than it was".

On the NAFDAC ban of the sale of drugs and closure of Onitsha Markets, the governor pleaded to be given three months to sanitise the market, adding that few people were responsible for the sale of fake and unwholesome drugs in the market.

"I am sincerely apologizing on behalf of the people of Anambra State over the unfortunate attack on NAFDAC Officials. We know the consequences on the pronouncement made on the market. We plead with the Agency to allow us clean up the place.

"All the bad people who manage markets and motor parks in Omithsa must leave the state. We must be seen to be doing genuine business in Onitsha and other parts of the state.

"We are willing to co-operate with NAFDAC to sanitize the state of fake drugs. It is a cankerworm and we can clean the state. We want Onitsha to return to a place where good people do business. It is a cankerworm and we are determined to clean the state", Governor Obi said.

NAFDAC Director-General, Professor Dora Akunyili lamented that in spite of efforts by the Agency to rid Onitsha of fake drugs, drug sellers in the town make things difficult for the agency.

Stressing the inherent dangers in the sale of fake drugs, she emphasized that such business create more damage than malaria, HIV/AIDS and armed robbery.

According to her, efforts by the agency in Kano, Lagos, Aba and other commercial towns led to the destruction of fake and unwholesome products valued at over N400 million.

She stated that were it not for Govenor Obi's intervention, NAFDAC was poised to close the shops for six months as well as advise manufacturers, importers and drug buyers not to do any business with Onitsha drugs dealers.

Two Filipino Oil Workers Kidnapped

2006-06-21T04:19:00.000+01:00

- Armed men in a speed boat kidnapped two Filipino oil workers from Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Tuesday, police and company officials said.

It was the latest in a string of kidnappings and assaults on foreign workers in Nigeria's southern delta, where militants fighting for control of the region's resources have warned oil workers to leave.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the abduction or what they wanted.

"Two Filipinos were kidnapped. We are looking into the circumstances," Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Agbetuyi told Reuters by telephone.

The men were abducted around noon (1100 GMT) by six armed men in a speed boat, a spokesman for Norwegian-based oil services company Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) said. Their direct employer is a company called Beaufort International, which is under contract to PGS. "We are not yet in contact with the abductors," PGS spokesman Ola Bosterud told Reuters by phone from Oslo.

The Niger Delta produces all of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels of oil daily, but most oil producing communities have seen little benefit from decades of oil production, which has sparked an increasingly violent backlash against the industry.

Attacks and abductions by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have forced oil companies to close down oilfields producing about 500,000 barrels a day since February.

The delta's problems are exacerbated by poverty, lawlessness, corruption and struggles for control of a lucrative oil theft business.

MEND has threatened to shut down Nigerian oil exports completely unless their demands for more local control over the delta's resources, pollution compensation and the release of two jailed leaders are met.

MEND say they do not demand ransom for hostages, and have held foreign oil workers for several weeks in separate incidents this year before releasing them unharmed.

Other groups routinely ask for and receive money, and normally release their captives unharmed after a day or two. (Additional reporting by Tume Ahemba and Tom Ashby in Lagos)

REUTERS

200 Prisoners Freed

2006-06-20T18:39:00.000+01:00

Nigerian authorities are investigating an attack by an angry crowd Monday on a prison facility in southeastern Onitsha. More than 200 inmates were released by the crowd, suspected to be Biafran separatists.

Top prison and police officials toured the Onitsha prisons to assess the raid. Authorities said the attackers, who belonged to the banned separatist group Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) freed more than 200 inmates.

A journalist in Onitsha, Emma Ndukaba, who accompanied the prison and police chiefs on their tour of the facility, said there was a sense of outrage that the security personnel at the prison could not fight off the mob.

"They think it was MASSOB that was behind the thing, but the comptroller-general is saying that his men did not do enough," said Emma Ndukaba. "They could not even shoot a gun, the security that was securing the place; they could not even shoot a gun. So, they are not even talking about whether it is MASSOB. Of course, all fingers point towards that direction. But the issue remains that their men did do enough to stop the people. Only minor people came with guns and they could not even stop them. They could not even shoot gun to scare them. They just ran away and abandoned the place for them to operate."

A MASSOB spokesman, Eddyson Samuel, has rejected the accusation. He said a rival group, the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), might have been behind the attack.

"If any group of people went to prison to free prisoners, they were not MASSOB members," he said. "When this thing started, it was the NARTO that were causing the problem. So they are the people causing all these crises and troubles in the state. And whenever they are doing these things, they used to move with Biafran flag and people around might think they are MASSOB members. They are not MASSOB members, they are NARTO people."

Officials of the transport union could not be reached to respond to the accusation.

At least 12 people have been killed in clashes that started in the city last Thursday when the police stormed a MASSOB meeting to make arrests. MASSOB had also fought street battles with the local transport union.

The Anambra state governor imposed a curfew during the weekend and appealed for the deployment of soldiers to contain the violence. Residents say Onitsha, a bustling large commercial city, remained calm with soldiers patrolling the streets.

MASSOB campaigns for the peaceful secession of southeastern Nigeria, a region dominated by ethnic Ibos. The group's leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, has been charged with treason and has been in jail since last year.

Federal Government Takes Over Onitsha Security

2006-06-20T13:16:00.000+01:00

FEDERAL Government has deployed soldiers to take over security in Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial hub, just as the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has dismissed its ban by the state Governor Peter Obi.

Stern-looking and combat ready soldiers, from 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha were seen at the Upper Iweka and Bridge-head providing security in Onitsha yesterday.

The soldiers, who were seen in three trucks, were said to have been posted to strategic places in Onitsha, following the ban on MASSOB and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), weekend by Governor Obi.

But MASSOB deputy director, information, Mazi Chris Mocha, dismissed the ban on MASSOB, saying that this is not the first ban on the movement.

He said MASSOB will wax stronger with this ban since they are non-violent, arguing that self-determination is enshrined in the United Nations' charter.

Mocha denied that MASSOB engaged in the burning of Police Station and vehicles, alleging that NARTO backed by Police and the government has been responsible for disturbances.

Meanwhile, Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, yesterday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Onitsha, to forestall further loss of lives and properties following clashes between the Nigeria Police, Members of National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

A wave of attacks hit Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of the East, following alleged battle for the control of lucratic motor parks that dot the town by NARTO and MASSOB members.

Disturbed by renewed hostilities, however, Obi had Saturday outlawed both organisations in Onitsha, and called on the Federal Government to intervene.

As a major step to stemming the rising tension in the area, Governor Obi, yesterday imposed the curfew for one week on the order of President OIusegun Obasanjo.

Addressing a press conference for the second time in two days, at Government House , Awka, Governor Obi who literally wept at the level of destruction at the weekend said the dusk to dawn curfew will run from Sunday June 18, to Saturday June 24, beginning each day at 7 pm and ending the next day at 6 am .

" As I said in my broadcast yesterday, I duly briefed His Excellency President Obasanjo, on the situation in Onitsha . The President telephoned me the moment he arrived Nigeria, yesterday (Sunday), and was fully briefed. True to his promise, the president immediately and graciously took neccessary actions . In addition , a dusk to dawn curfew is hereby imposed on Onitsha for one week . This curfew will run from Sunday June 18, to Saturday June 24, beginning each day at 7pm and ending the next day at 6am ", he stressed .

He hinted that the state government will this week continue to meet with various stakeholders and the security agencies on ways to ensure lasting peace and a cordial environment for people to go about their lawful endeavours unmolested.

He appealed to the miscreants attempting to disrupt Anambra's peace to desist as his government will not be intimidated.

While thanking Anambrarians for remaining calm and law abiding, the governor urged parents and guardians to advise their wards to desist from actions that can only earn them unpleasant consequences as the peace in Anambra can not be negotiated by anybody or group even as he pointed out that his government is doing everything possible to ensure that normalcy returns to Onitsha.

Already, a joint army and police special squad has taken over Onitsha to ensure peace and normalcy supercedes with residents already complaining of extortion by them.

Speaking on behalf of the residents when Governor Obi visited the burnt police station and Owerri road where Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and Tata police van were burnt , an eyewitness driver and resident Mr Ikwuka Ofia indicted the mobile police men attached to NARTO group for aiding and abetting the perpetuating of crime and destruction to the centre of wealth,Onitsha, in Anambra state.

Hear him, "There is nothing MASSOB did . It is the NARTO with the mobile police attached to them that are causing this havoc. It was NARTO that killed three people at Ezeiweka and burnt two persons. If you go to Okpoko now, you will cry at the level of destruction of people's properties by the group. They are quarreling over parks. NARTO killed all. We are begging Mr President to remove NARTO from our parks . They are causing this havoc in Onitsha."

At Three Three police divisional headquarters Onitsha which was burnt ,ASP Ikechukwu Egbochukwu who recieved the Governor on behalf of DPO Charles Nwabugwu told the Governor that their one year office complex was burnt and two people in police cell

Anambra State police command did not disclose the number of either MASSOB or NARTO in their detention as the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Fidelis Agbo told Daily Champion that he will brief it at a later day on the developments at Onitsha.

Reacting Area Administrator MASSOB, Onitsha zone ,Comrade Edison accused the police of witchhunting and humiliating innocent citizens who have nothing to do with MASSOB pointing out that the raid last weekend by the police left seven of their members dead and over 50 arrested at Nkpikpa forest where they were having their meeting .

Comrade Edison wondered why the police should be looking for harmless and peaceful agitators with all the ammunition in the country when armed robbers have their field day in broad day ligths unchallenged and accused the Federal Government of a calculated attempt to wipe out the Igbo in the name of MASSOB.

Onitsha Curfew Imposed

2006-06-19T17:38:00.000+01:00

IN response the crisis which has been rocking Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra state for three days running, arising from a bloody clash between the police and people suspected to be members of Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra [MASSOB], Anambra State Government yesterday imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the commercial city, with a stern warning that violators of the curfew would be decisively dealt with. The curfew will last between 7pm and 6am and it will last for one week in the first instance.

Already, a joint military and police patrol has begun in Onitsha to forestall further crisis. Meanwhile, normalcy is gradually returning to the commercial city.

The crisis has taken a big toll on the economic activities in the state and the police have lost an Armoured Personnel Carrier [APC], some buses and a police station.

In a state wide broadcast, the second in 24hours, Governor Peter Obi said that he has briefed President Olusegun Obasanjo on the situation on ground and that the President " immediately and graciously took necessary action".

Obi said that the State Government was doing everything possible to restore law and order in Onitsha and warned that the Government would not spare any person or group of persons bent on disturbing the peace of the state.

According to him, " Anambra state is on the verge of a new era of peace that cannot be negotiated or compromised by anybody or group".

He said that the Government is working with the military and warned that any person who tries to cause more trouble would face the consequences which he said will be "unpleasant".

He further warned that the curfew is an order and any person who violates the order would face severe consequences.

Obi who traced the crisis in the state to the engagement of thugs by politicians in the state, said time has come to stamp them out of the state. He said that they were armed by the politicians who used them and now that their employers were out of power they turned to miscreants to cause trouble for the people.

" These people were invited by politicians. My predecessors armed thugs and now that those Governments have gone, they want to remain here and perpetrate crisis. We want to restore the security of the state to the constitutionally empowered agency not thugs. We will not tolerate thuggery and rascals. We will find a lasting solution when we discuss with stakeholders", the Governor said.

He assured that the markets in the state are secured and noted that the Government was aware that the beneficiaries of the crisis would not go and rest but warned that the government was ready for them.

Obi said he did not expect the people to fold their arms and accept the drastic changes he is introducing in the state but assured that it would be for their future benefit.

He said that the miscreants could be engaged in farming and that they could benefit from a micro-loan the government is trying to introduce for the people of the state.

" When you are changing a system, people will react. But let us change it once and for all. Today what you hear of Anambra state is NARTO, MASSOB, for God's sake why", the Governor wondered.

He called on parents and guardians to call their children to order to avoid facing dire consequences.

Shell Won't be Readmitted to Ogoniland

2006-06-19T01:12:00.000+01:00

Ogoni people in Rivers State have denounced a recent report that the oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), would soon gain access back to the oil fields in their land.

A national daily had recently quoted the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, as assuring that the SPDC would soon go back on full operations in Ogoniland as plans were already being put together to facilitate a reconciliation meeting between the company and the community, relying on the success of the recent reconciliation of the Ogoni 13.

But in a statement circulated in Port Harcourt by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), and signed by its Information Officer, Bari-ara Kpalap, the people said the talks between them and Shell had not reached any stage that should suggest optimism.

Shell Has A Blueprint

2006-06-19T01:08:00.000+01:00

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has drawn a new blueprint to attain production targets in Nigeria, after cutting down production levels because of the persistent unrest in the oil-bearing communities in the Niger Delta.

Director of Production of the SPDC Mutiu Sunmonu in the latest edition of the Shell Bulletin made available here on Friday that the company "has drawn up an agenda to achieve improved production for the rest of the year and beyond."

He said the blueprint tagged "Production Must Win Battles (PMBs) " was aimed at achieving equipment reliability, pipeline optimization, additional oil output, stable operating environment and organizational ability.

"The five key areas to deliver improved production pose questions on virtually every segment of the business -- how can we get more from existing wells," he said.

"How can we ensure our equipment and facilities are working in top condition with less shutdowns and deferment, what are the short-term options to ensure our pipelines are ready to evacuate additional oil and how can we get over pipeline vandalism,?" Sunmonu asked.

"If we get these answers right, we will be able to deliver more value to all stakeholders -- staff, investors, communities and the Nigerian state as a whole," he added.

He said a training program aimed at achieving the production " must-win" battles had been slated to commence this month.

Because of "difficult situations" in the oil-rich Niger Delta, Shell has to declare force majeure, resulting in a loss of about 455,000 barrels per day in production targets.

On June 9, Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR) Tony Chukwueke announced that Nigeria lost about 800,000 barrels per day as a result of fraudulent activities in the oil sector

Deputy Managing Director of Shell Mark Corner said the company had operated in a difficult situation in the first quarter of the year, with attacks on oil installations.

He lauded the workers of the company for showing understanding with the company, urging them to continue to work safely and to prepare for full steam work "when conditions allow the company to return to normal production activity."

Anglo-Dutch Shell and other oil majors have been contending with difficult situations in the oil-rich Niger Delta where militants have been disrupting oil production activities.

Nigeria is the largest oil produce in Africa or the sixth largest oil exporter in the world with a daily crude output of some 2.5 million bpd.

Obasanjo Reassures Foreign Oil Companies

2006-06-19T01:06:00.000+01:00

President Olusegun Obasanjo has reassured oil companies of their security anywhere they operated in the country, saying that "this administration is undaunted by recent security problems in the Niger Delta and is taking appropriate action to deal with the situation."

A federal government statement issued here at the weekend quoted Obasanjo as making the remarks in London at separate meetings with executive directors of Shell International and Total Worldwide.

Obasanjo declared that his administration was prepared to do whatever was needed to guarantee the safety of oil resources and facilities in the region. He, however, stressed that solving the problems of the Niger Delta should not be considered the responsibility of the federal government alone.

"The oil companies, states and local governments also have a role to play," he said, adding "We want to deal with the security issue from the roots. Let us all work together on this."

He said the recent crises in the oil-rich Niger Delta, southern Nigeria, were a culmination of years of neglect and under- development, "which the federal government has been taking measures to redress."

Obasanjo told the oil company executives that the Nigerian government was beginning to gain the confidence of militants in the region through dialogue and persuasion.

He told them that incidence of illegal bunkering "and stealing of Nigeria's crude oil has been reduced by about 50 percent through measures by the government."

Six Killed in Nigerian Violence

2006-06-19T01:05:00.000+01:00

At least six people were killed in the southeast Nigerian city of Onitsha when a feud between a separatist group and a transport union degenerated into street battles, residents said yesterday.

One witness said men armed with guns and machetes boarded a bus, forced out all the passengers and shot and beheaded one of them.

"He was killed in my presence and his head was cut off," said Charles Mbara, an estate agent who was a passenger on the bus. The incident happened on Friday.

"On my way back in the evening I saw five burnt corpses at several points in Upper Iweka. ... We don't know who the killers were," he said.

There were pockets of violence yesterday in some parts of the city, where members of a road transport union stopped and searched vehicles and demanded money from people at roadblocks, the Civil Liberties Organisation, a rights group, said.

Police have arrested 18 members of the banned Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) over the past two days in connection with fighting in Onitsha.

Oil Companies Have Big Decision to Make

2006-06-15T16:58:00.000+01:00

Energy companies working in Africa's biggest oil producer increasingly face a frustrating race between production and disruption.

At present some 800,000 barrels a day or 30 percent of Nigeria's crude oil exports is shut down, most of it by attacks since January by militants battling the government for control of the oil fields. The militants have blown up facilities and taken workers hostage.

Within the same period Nigeria has added new production from deep water fields in the Atlantic ocean, with more set to follow in the coming months. Oil minister Edmund Daukoru expects export capacity to jump from current 2.5 million a day to 3 million by the end of the year.

Whether it all goes according to plan depends on if the currently raging armed militancy in the Niger Delta region can be checked.

"As it stands Nigeria doesn't have the capability to actually protect (its) oil supplies," said Jonathan Bearman, head of U.K.-based Clearwater Research providing risk control and intelligence services for oil companies in the Gulf Guinea.

"It is a very limited ability all round," Jonathan Bearman told The Associated Press.

The security forces, and in particular the navy with primary responsibility for securing oil fields, have not shown a good track record of dealing with the armed militants nor equally active oil smugglers, said Bearman.

"Somewhere down the line you'll have to have international involvement" to guarantee security in the delta, said Bearman.

Whether it comes in the form of intervention by Western powers or strengthening of the Nigerian military by outside forces will depend on how things unfold in the region in the coming months, said Bearman.

The British warship HMS Chatham and its U.S. counterpart USS Barry were visiting Nigeria's Lagos port at a time eight Westerners were being held hostage in the delta. It was part of increased patrols of the Gulf of Guinea, a region of growing importance as an oil supply source for the West.

Britain has not received any request to intervene militarily in the delta, HMS Chatham's commanding officer Capt. James Morse told reporters aboard the warship in Lagos.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is monitoring the situation closely," he added. "If we are asked to help, we have the capability."

Attacks claimed by the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta or MEND have already shut down half of all onshore oil operations in the region, forcing the closure of Forcados export terminal, one of the three biggest oil-loading points in Nigeria.

Now the group has turned its attention to the eastern delta, where a gas plant run by Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian subsidiary was attacked last week and five South Koreans working for contractors Daewoo Engineering and Korea Gas Corp. were taken hostage.

"We will carry our more attacks in the east of the delta," MEND, which freed the Koreans two days later, said in an e-mail to the Associated Press afterward. "There is no safe place (in the Niger Delta) for these oil companies."

Shell, which was forced to shut the 150 million cubic feet plant, is the biggest oil and gas operator in Nigeria and runs the vast majority of onshore oil operations in Africa's leading producer. It is so far the biggest loser but not the only target.

For Shell "the security situation remains a concern," Caroline Wittgen, company spokeswoman in London told The Associated Press. She declined to discuss the worries in any detail but expressed optimism about the company's future in Nigeria.

"Shell has a long-standing presence in Nigeria - and we expect that we will continue to be a major player there for many decades to come," Wittgen said.

It was a view repeated by officials of other oil majors in Nigeria, all keen to remain in a region that gives one of the lowest production costs for crude worldwide -- between US$2-3 a barrel.

Chevron has yet to fully resume pumping oil from several oil fields producing about 130,000 barrels daily in the swamps of the western delta, closed during an uprising in 2003 by ethnic Ijaw militants that for a period shut down 40 percent of exports. An attempt by the company to restore production at some of the facilities a year later was halted after gunmen ambushed a boat carrying Chevron contractors, killing two American oil workers, three Nigerian colleagues and their military guards.

France's Total has yet to return to facilities it abandoned in the same area after its employees were killed in an attack by militants.

As feelings of being cheated out of the oil wealth produced on their land first began transforming into violent protests, kidnapping and disruptions in the Niger Delta in the early 1990s, the oil majors had turned their attention to offshore oil.

ExxonMobil, the second-biggest operator in Nigeria, and Chevron had suffered less disruption because they had more of their operations offshore. And as one major offshore discovery followed another, there was optimism in the industry that the offshore facilities located far from the impoverished and restive communities of the delta would be safe from disruptions.

Between them Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and ENI are bringing new offshore fields into production to lift Nigeria's exports to 4 million barrels daily by 2010 with investments of more than US$20 billion.

Oil is pumped from giant, floating storage vessels out in the ocean into export tankers.

Hopes the offshore fields will prove a haven for oil operations in Nigeria were somewhat dashed when armed men acting on behalf of an aggrieved delta community raided an offshore oil rig on May 26, seizing eight oil workers -- six Britons, one American and one Canadian.

The attack on the rig some 60 kilometers (40 miles) offshore operated by Norway's Fred. Olsen on behalf of a Nigerian company coincided with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Nigerian navy. President Olusegun Obasanjo, who inspected a parade by navy troops that day, promised them more equipment to enable them to better protect the oil fields, the lifeblood of the economy.

Associated Press

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

2006-06-15T06:18:00.000+01:00

SUMMARY

Nigeria is an insecure environment for commercial operations. Security risk arises on three levels. The first comes from the high level of violent crime. This can be simple armed robbery (especially of mobile phones), but can also involve car jacking and violent attacks. The risk is especially common when travelling between major cities. Second, companies can be subjected to direct attack or blackmail. This occurs overwhelmingly in the oil producing states and is directed at multinational oil companies, where facilities can be vandalized and staff kidnapped. Third, incidences of inter-communal violence have risen since the return to civilian rule. While foreigners are not usually the direct object of attack in such cases, incidents can quickly spiral out of control and engulf bystanders. In a recent government survey, 80% of companies cited the lack of security for their staff and property as a serious constraint on business.

SCENARIOS

Oil firms suffer kidnapping of staff and vandalism against premises (High Risk)

Kidnapping of staff and vandalism against premises and oil producing infrastructure is commonplace in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states (the heart of so-called Delta region), which are the center of Nigeria's onshore oil industry. Shell estimates that around 50-70 members of staff are kidnapped every year. Although most are usually released unharmed once a ransom is paid or concessions agreed with the local community, the experience may be traumatic and employers should consider training staff on how best to cope with being abducted. Although expatriates in Nigeria have traditionally only been the target of kidnappings in the Niger Delta, and to date have been released without harm, the shooting dead of two US citizens working for ChevronTexaco in an ambush in the Delta in April 2004 was a worrying development. Since then, the incident has not been repeated (bar what seems to be an isolated shooting of an expatriate worker in Port Harcourt in May 2006 which seems to have been a personal vendetta), and it seems increasingly likely that it was just a one-off, but if tensions were to rise markedly a repeat cannot be ruled out. Vandalism of company equipment and infrastructure is also common which can have important safety implications.

Unrest in the Delta region persists (High Risk)

There has been a major upsurge in clashes between various gangs and ethnic groups in the crucial oil producing Delta region following the disputed April 2003 elections and this now seems set to increase sharply in the run up to the April 2007 elections. Although many gangs claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor and indigenous inhabitants in the region, many are little more than criminal groups. Inter-gang fighting has led to an increase in violent clashes, which often spill over into wider violence. The situation has been compounded by the high global oil price which has made stealing oil more lucrative and because the government has increased its battle against corruption in the Delta region which has raised the political stakes. The situation has also become more worrying in the last year with the recent emergence of a new group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). This seems to be more organized than many previous groups, as shown by its ability to detonate a number of car bombs and the kidnapping of larger groups of expatriate workers. Shell, one of the leading oil companies working in the region, has already announced plans to significantly step up security provision to its workers in the region for the coming year and any company operating in the region, or in Port Harcourt would be well advised to think carefully about security issues. Another side of the growing lawlessness is the problem of piracy in Nigerian waters. Most attacks on vessels are in the area around the mouth of the Niger river and are related to the illegal trade in oil. Any firm working in the region, or just offshore, is strongly advised to ensure that its security policy assumes the worst if a boat is missing for a prolonged period.

Firms see premises and equipment stolen or vandalised (High Risk)

Vandalism of company equipment and infrastructure is common throughout the country and will continue to have an adverse impact on the cost of operations. Most business premises are heavily fenced (with considerable barbed wire at a minimum on high fences) and most companies either employ a security company to guard premises, or directly employ their own security guards. They also carry high stock levels of equipment to ensure that damaged equipment can be quickly repaired and operations re-started (this is especially the case if the goods need to be imported, with all the associated delays at the ports).

Individuals are victims of armed robbery (High Risk)

Although the government has increased spending on the police in recent years, the police force is still very poorly paid, inefficient and highly corrupt. Meanwhile, armed robbery is a problem, especially on most major roads in the country (some roads are more notorious than others). Cars are either stopped by measures which cause a tire puncture (nails in orange skins left in the road, for example) or by roadblocks (criminal groups often wear official police or army uniforms to dupe drivers into stopping). Employing an experienced driver able to spot suspicious roadblocks and able to tell whether a puncture is likely to have been caused by sabotage is advisable. Mobile phone theft is widespread and you are advised to simply give over the phone if confronted. Being caught in the police crossfire at an incident is also a concern. A recent Human Rights Watch report estimated that 3,100 people where killed in gunfights with the police in 2003. As if to emphasise the potential dangers, a dispute between a police and army officer in Lagos in October 2005, led to a running gunfight and three civilian deaths.

BACKGROUND

(Background material is updated twice yearly. Last update: June 12th, 2006)

Armed conflict

It is estimated that at least 50,000 people have been killed in various incidents of ethnic, religious and communal violence since the return to civilian rule in May 1999. This gives Nigeria a casualty rate from internal conflict that is one of the highest in the world--and the country is not fighting a civil war. Although most of the conflicts have been between civilians, there have also been some serious clashes between security forces and civilians and militants.

Unrest and kidnapping

Probably the most serious challenge to the governments authority has come from rebellious groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta. Since the mid-1990s a number of militant groups, angry at their peoples political alienation and economic exploitation, have waged an increasingly violent struggle against the state and multinational oil companies operating in the area. The most high profile of these is probably the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force. Fighting between the various groups and with the Nigerian military has led to the deaths of thousands of people. In 2004, with the fighting between various gangs escalating, the government substantially increased its military presence in the region. In addition, it has sought to agree ceasefires between the various groups and with the government itself. Whether these will hold for a prolonged period remains unclear, given the complex nature of conflict in the region and the lack of progress with promoting economic development. To date, none of the groups organizing the protests have coalesced into a coherent political force.

In addition to the fighting between groups, oil facilities and their personnel have been targeted by militant youths from disgruntled communities trying to squeeze money, jobs and social amenities from wealthy, though vulnerable, oil multi-nationals. An increasing number of oil workers have been kidnapped, including foreigners who work in isolated areas in the difficult-to-police swampy terrain of the Niger Delta. Oil workers are usually seized in large groups from isolated locations, held for short periods and freed unharmed. In the case of Shell, the number of community-related disruptions (which include the closure of production facilities, seizure of assets, blockade of access and disruption of drilling activities) increased by 10% to 176 in 2004, compared with 2003. Armed gangs also stole crude oil from the company, although the number of such incidents fell by 20%, to 71, in 2004.

In other parts of the south, ethnic nationalist groups have sprung up in recent years, reflecting a growing feeling of frustration with central government and the political domination of the numerically superior north. The authorities have been unable to contain militant nationalist groups, such as the Yoruba separatist movement, the Oodua Peoples Congress, the Ijaw Egbesu in the Niger Delta, the Bakassi Boys in the south-east and the Arewa Peoples Congress in the north, all of whom are linked to ethnic disturbances and anti-government activities. Many of these groups are well armed. Although the aggression of Nigerias militant groups is usually directed at the failures of post-independence nation-building, outbreaks of ethnic-religious fighting, particularly in cities, could increase the sense of insecurity for foreign residents.

The worst fighting of ethno-religious origin, that between mainly Christian local farmers and predominantly Muslim settler herdsmen, has taken place in the middle-belt Plateau State, where, according to an official report, nearly 54,000 people died in sectarian clashes between September 2001 and May 2004. Acts of violence involving Christians and Muslims also followed the introduction of Sharia (Islamic law) in 12 predominantly Muslim states in the north. In February and May 2000 more than 2,000 people were reported killed in clashes in Kaduna over plans to introduce Sharia in a state with a large Christian minority. This was the worst incident of religious violence since more than 4,000 people were killed in the uprising of the Maitatsine cult in Kano in 1980. In November 2002 more than 200 people died in religious riots in Kaduna sparked by the aborted Miss World contest in the capital, Abuja. In May 2004, a state of emergency was imposed in Plateau State to quell ethnic-religious fighting that had caused the deaths of at least 1,000 people. In December 2003 and September 2004 security forces clashed with self-styled Taliban Islamic militants who attacked police stations in the northern states of Borno and Yobe; these groups have sought to exploit local grassroots discontent with the perceived failings of the secular federal government.

Violent crime

Violent robbery has been a major problem in Nigeria since the emerging oil boom of the 1970s raised expectations of quick wealth among different classes of the population. Over the years the criminals have become increasingly brutal, better armed, audacious and contemptuous of Nigerias ill-equipped police force, which has been ineffective in stemming the crime wave. Rich and poor communities in urban areas have been terrorised by armed robbers, and households and companies have had to install elaborate security systems to protect themselves against attacks. The police have intensified their campaign against violent crime. According to the crime statistics of the Lagos State Police Command, 287 armed robbers were killed in 2002 in Nigerias commercial capital, compared with 257 in 2001. The statistics showed that 34 civilians were killed in 2002 compared with 70 in 2001, whereas 45policemen died in shoot-outs with armed bandits, up from 16 in 2001. There is roughly one policeman to every 1,300 citizens in Nigeria, compared with the UN-recommended ratio of 1:400. However, the shortage of resources has not been the only constraint on the fight against crime: some police and soldiers have participated in crime themselves, including setting up illegal roadblocks.

Organised crime

Nigeria has in recent years become synonymous with organised drug-trafficking groups, international prostitution networks, money-laundering and 419 scams. (419 scams involve unsolicited letters being sent to individuals to ask for the use of a bank account and for money to be sent to Nigeria to help to release funds, of which a percentage will then be paid to the person who has helped to release the funds. The person receives nothing. The swindle is named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code.) Although each is a problem in its own right, together they do not pose a specific threat to conducting business in Nigeria. The civilian government is committed to tackling all these problems--in November 2003 the president, Olusegun Obasanjo, inaugurated a committee headed by his national security adviser to fight 419 internet fraud--but it is constrained by lack of resources and other more pressing problems. Progress is likely to be slow.

Strike Becoming More Contentious

2006-06-15T00:50:00.000+01:00

Striking telecommunications workers should get their money "within the week", according to a spokesman for the under-fire telecoms parastatal. But Unions said negotiations between the management of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and workers in the eight-day strike has not even begun.

The management was still holding negotiations with a government committee on the strike but the federal government has released the money to pay the backlog salaries the spokesman for NITEL claimed. Yesterday, the continuing strike caused GSM networks to fail for several hours.

The leader of the biggest Telecoms union was Monday night released from detention, after he was arrested at the NITEL headquarters earlier in the day. The president of the National Association of Telecommunications Employees (NATE), Mr. Charles Amamkwe, accused NITEL management of not entering into a dialogue with the workers at a press conference in Abuja.

According to NATE president, "we are aware that the man agement of NITEL are in the country but they have not made efforts to dialogue with us so that we can brainstorm on how to put the house in order" "Despite all the provocations, we still give room for the management to sit down with us and address the issues", he added. But when contacted, the Acting General Manager, Corporate Communications Department of NITEL, Bala Ibrahim Abdulkadir, said the management were in a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Productivity. Union representatives were also at that meeting.

Mr. Abdulkadir said: "The NITEL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Albert Mashi, is attending the meeting which is currently holding with the union at the Ministry of Labour and Productivity." He said the federal government has released the money as at yesterday adding that, "the good news is that we have got the money. Right now, we are making arrangements on the disbursement of the money to our territorial headquarters." According to him, within the week, all workers will get their money.

Mr Amamkwe accused the management of using the police to intimidate the workers, saying, "that approach which they are will not work and would not solve the problem". Daily Trust reported yesterday that on Monday, police arrested Mr. Amamkwe and charged him for attempted felony but later released him as a result of the intervention of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

Amamkwe who spoke to pressmen yesterday after his release, urged the workers to stay at home and encouraged them to be strong saying, "NATE is ready to take the challenge and pursue their right". According to him, NITEL at the moment owes the Private Telecommunications Operators (PTOs) over N6.4billion which, according to him, if the money was recovered, the whole crisis will be over.

On the arrest, Amamkwe said the management should write a letter of apology to the association's leaders. Meanwhile, the private telecoms operators have continued to experience difficulties in their networks a s a result of the ongoing strike by NITEL workers.

The strike which has extended beyond a week now, has paralysed telecommunications in almost every part of the country as private telecommunications outfits, including GSM operators, have had great difficulties interconnecting networks since NITEL provides the major backbone facility as the first national carrier.

Users of GSM phones have been complaining of almost complete blackout in most of the networks. The worst hit are land line users who completely depend on NITEL. Daily Trust gathered yesterday that MTN and Glo mobile subscribers have been finding it difficult to make or receive calls within and outside their networks.

MTN Nigeria has been sending text massages to its subscribers urging them to exercise patience as they would be having some difficulties in making calls as a result of the industrial action, Daily Trust gathered. Speaking under condition of anonymity, one of the MTN Corporate Affairs staff said the prob lem has to do with the ongoing NITEL strike. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), says it has met and will continue to discuss with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure that industrial action embarked upon by NITEL workers is resolved as soon as possible so that telecom services can be restored.

In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, NCC said it is aware of the impact of the strike on the nation's telecoms services and appealed to subscribers to cooperate with the commission.

Striking NITEL workers Paralyze Nigeria Communications

2006-06-14T19:24:00.000+01:00

Striking workers of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL may have made good their threat to cripple telecoms services throughout the country from yesterday as interconnectivity through calls to GSM and other Private Telephone Operators in the country have become difficult and most times, impossible.

In fact, interconnectivity from PTOs has now become near impossible as most times, callers are told via recorded message that "the line that you are trying to call cannot be reached for now, please try later."

Yesterday, Vmobile sent an SMS to its customers as follows: "Due to the NITEL strike you may experience difficulty in making/receiving calls from other networks. We are doing our best to ease the situation."

Some of the GSM operators have since yesterday been sending messages to their subsribers informing them why they have been experiencing difficulties in either making or receiving calls and assuring them of efforts being made to ease the difficulties.

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is meeting today in Lagos, to discuss the possibilities of solidarity action with the embattled NITEL workers.

The aggrieved NITEL workers had threatened to switch off all telecommunication switches linking NITEL PTOs and also the backbones that support their operation which could bring down the nation's telecommunications system since the international gateways are owned and maintained by NITEL and its staff respectively.

The gateways which are located at Lanlate, Oyo State; Saka Tinubu, Lagos; Kujana, Kaduna State; and Enugu are all linked to SAT-3 undersea cable, linking Nigeria to Africa and the outside world.

In one of the text messages to its subscribers, a GSM operator wrote: "Dear customer, due to the NITEL strike, you may experience difficulties in making\recieving calls to other networks. We are doing our best to ease the situation."

Nigeria Losing 800,000 Bbls per Day

2006-06-13T17:57:00.000+01:00

Nigeria is losing 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day to rising attacks on oil pipelines and platforms and hostage taking by militants in the Niger Delta region, according to officials of the country`s Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The loss translate to over 30 per cent of the country`s daily oil production of 2.5 million barrels and, with oil prices at US$37 last Friday, means a loss of US$57 million daily.

DPR Director Tony Chukwueke said in Lagos at the weekend that the heavy losses in production output had resulted in the entire western operations of the Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) being shut down.

"We are experiencing one of the most difficult periods in the history of Nigeria`s oil and gas industry," Chukwueke said

"As I am talking to you, Nigeria is losing over 800,000 bpd (barrels per day). So this is a trying period for the Federal Government despite its drive to ensure that sanity reigns in the sector."

Militants demanding control of oil resources in the region, release of two prominent regional leaders and the payment of US$1.5 billion by Shell for environmental degradation have stepped up their attacks on oil facilities, especially those operated by Shell, Nigeria`s largest oil producing company.

Between December 2005 and now, militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have thrice abducted foreign oil workers as part of their campaign, though all the workers were later released unharmed.

They have also resorted to the use of car bombs, while vowing to cut the country`s oil production capacity by 1.5 million barrels per day. Nigeria, Africa`s largest oil producing nation and an important member of the oil cartel Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), recently announced plans to raise production by an additional 600,000 bpd at the end of this quarter.

Five Koreans Freed

2006-06-09T18:19:00.000+01:00

Five South Koreans kidnapped in early hours of Wednesday in southern Nigeria were released on Thursday afternoon, said Jomo Gbomo, self-described spokesman for the Movement of Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Gbomo said the five South Koreans were released at 1600 hrs (1500 GMT) to the custody of Senator David Brigidi at the request of Alhaji Asari-Dokubo, a rebel leader who was detained by the Nigerian government for treason.

The MEND's 32 militant youths attacked the South Korean Daewoo company at Cawthorne Channel, Rivers State in early hours of Wednesday, taking five South Korean workers as hostage after they defeated the Nigerian navy and killed at least six navy sailors.

Earlier, Gbomo explained that the action to take five South Koreans hostage was a response to the Court of Appeal in the capital Abuja on Tuesday which rejected Alhaji Asari-Dokubo's prayer for bail.

Asari-Dokubo, leader of a rebel group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, was detained by the government early this year for treason.

The MEND spokesman reaffirmed that the Daewoo Company like all companies in the oil industry "is advised to leave the Niger Delta or face even more drastic action in future."

Since the beginning of this year, more kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities by militants have occurred in the oil-rich Niger Delta, which have forced the largest oil producer in Africa to cut production by 455,000 barrels per day and push up world oil prices.

Strike Disrupts Communications

2006-06-09T18:17:00.000+01:00

A strike at Nigeria’s state telephone company is hurting business in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-biggest economy where internet access is near impossible and many local and international calls are blocked.

The strike at Nitel, which the government is trying to privatise, has shut down the SAT-3 underwater cable, the main gateway for international calls and internet connections to Africa’s most populous nation.

About 10,000 Nitel workers launched the indefinite strike on Monday because they had not been paid for four months.

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) said it is now difficult to make calls from fixed lines because the interconnect centre, which allows calls from one private network to another, is located at a Nitel facility.

There is nobody there to switch on the generator during power outages, which occur several times a day in Nigeria and last for hours. Calls cannot go through because the interconnect switches trip off during outages.

"Businesses are suffering, revenue is being lost," ATCON Executive Secretary Godwin Morgan told Reuters.

"Apart from the fact that calls are not being made, the private telecoms operators (PTOs) now have to make new investments to keep their businesses running," he added.

Morgan said operators were resorting to the use of back-up batteries to keep their interconnect switches on. Even then, they have to bribe the guards at the gates to gain access to the Nitel centre, according to PTO staff.

"Customers have been bombarding us with complaints since the strike started on Monday," said an official of one firm.

Banks and other businesses have also been hit.

"The situation has been terrible...The interbank rate has gone up simply because dealers cannot communicate amongst themselves. The overnight rate has gone up to 5% from 1% due to the outage," said one dealer at Citibank.

Yomi Oloyede, who runs a computer centre in the upmarket district of Ikoyi in Lagos, said he had seen a dip in revenue.

"People come wanting to make international calls and to send faxes, but because of the ripple effect of the strike, we are unable to provide the services they want," Oloyede said.

Nitel, which analysts say is overstaffed and inefficient, is owed about 80 billion naira ($621.8 million) in unpaid bills, with government agencies accounting for around 5 billion naira of the debt.

Nigeria’s telecoms market has grown dramatically since 1999, when the country returned to democracy after decades of army rule — but Nitel has largely missed out on the growth.

A liberalisation of the telecoms sector spurred an increase in the number of telephone lines from about half a million in 1999 to over 17 million now, but most of the new lines are mobile subscriptions operated by private companies.

The government said on Monday that 1,7 billion naira should be deducted at source from the monthly budgets of the indebted parastatals to pay Nitel staff salaries.

The unions say 4 billion naira is required to pay the arrears.

Loss of Production Bigger than First Thought

2006-06-09T18:15:00.000+01:00

A Nigerian government official said Friday that a shut-in at the country's oil rich Niger Delta is in fact 800,000 barrels a day and higher than previously reported.

Speaking at an industry event in Lagos, Tony Chukwueke, director of Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources, said "as I speak to you now, Nigeria has shut in over 800,000 b/d. This is a huge loss to Nigeria and we don't know what to do about it."

Until now it was thought that attacks by the region's militants, who are fighting for regional control of Nigeria's oil resources, had cut the country's crude oil output by more than 500,000 b/d, most of it from a joint venture operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB).

The major militant group - the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta - warned recently it was preparing for a major attack on the Nigerian oil industry.

Militants have also said they were aiming to cut Nigeria's oil exports by 1 million b/d.

Nigeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, currently exports between 2.3 million and 2.4 million b/d.

Nigerian industry sources were unable to say why an extra 300,000 b/d of Nigerian production is offline than previously estimated. Although one Nigerian oil official said, "if Tony has made this comment there is no doubt it is correct."

A spokeswoman for Shell in London was also unable to comment on the latest reported outage figure.

She confirmed that 455,000 b/d of Shell's crude output remains shut-in in the western Delta following civil unrest there.

Unrelated, 50,000 b/d of Shell's crude production remains out of action following an oil spill nearly two weeks ago in the company's trunk line in Nembe in the Niger Delta.

The company's gas plant in the eastern Niger Delta remains closed following an attack by armed men early Wednesday morning.

The Cawthorne Channel gas plant has capacity of 150 million cubic feet of gas a day.

Nigeria oil workers 'to be freed'

2006-06-08T11:59:00.000+01:00

According to a spokesman from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Five South Koreans kidnapped during a raid on a Nigeria oil field in which five soldiers were killed are to be freed.

He said the militant group would release them on Thursday, following an appeal from a detained militant leader.

Mend has staged several attacks in Nigeria's main oil producing region to demand more oil wealth for locals.

Eight oil workers were freed on Sunday, two days after they were seized.

Attacks on oil facilities have become increasingly common in Nigeria's lawless, impoverished Delta region, leading to a 25% cut in oil production by Africa's biggest exporter.

Armed groups have long complained that oil wealth has not been distributed equitably among the local population.

There are fears that the violence will only get worse as next year's elections approach.

Prisoner exchange?

MEND said the attack, in which they sunk an army boat near Port Harcourt, was a response to a court decision to deny bail to militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.

Mr Dokubo-Asari was arrested on treason charges last year. Mend has long demanded his release.

One of the other groups that took part in the kidnappings, the Joint Revolutionary Council, says Mr Dokubo-Asari has called for the release of the hostages, according to Reuter news agency.

When it announced responsibility for the kidnappings, MEND suggested that the hostages could be exchanged for Mr Dokubo-Asari.

Three of the kidnapped workers are from South Korean engineering firm Daewoo. The others work for the Korea Gas Corp.

Many armed groups in the Niger Delta have links to competing local politicians and have been used to help win elections in the past.

So the fear is that violence in the Delta will rise as armed groups, political or otherwise, strive to exert their power, as campaigning starts for elections due next year.

Nigeria to Review Agreements with Multinationals

2006-06-08T11:10:00.000+01:00

The Nigerian federal government has decided to review all the agreements with major oil multinationals operating in the country in the interest of the nation, the state- owned News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday.

Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources Edmund Daukoru was quoted as saying that "the exercise will take place before the end of this year and will be one legacy President Obasanjo will leave in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry."

The initiative meant that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would take up the operations of a number of oil blocks, he said.

The agreements included the Joint Operating Agreements (JOAs), Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs).

According to the oil minister, the exercise will reduce the problems of cash calls since it will address squarely funding in the upstream as well as profit sharing between operating companies and the NNPC.

"The exercise, when carried out, will boost government's revenue as well as interest in the upstream sector," he said.

He added that Nigeria was taking a cue from countries such as Algeria and Venezuela where cash calls were not much of a problem to the government.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had raised percentages of all operating agreements with oil companies to 50/50 in terms of profit sharing, and asked any company not interested with the new arrangement to leave the country.

MEND Threats Usually Become Reality

2006-06-08T11:04:00.000+01:00

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it would next hit a target on Bonney Island and that is exactly what the group did. With this most recent fulfilled promise, the rebel organization, unknown before its first attacks andd kidnappings in January, demonstrated its capabilities.

MEND indicated it wanted to exchange the five Korean hostages taken Wednesday, for the delta region's most prominent leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who has called for autonomy for southerners and was jailed last year on treason charges. His release has been a top militant demand since they took up arms this year.

The statement advised the South Korean contractor to "close down its operations with immediate effect as a second attack will bring only death."

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said three of the kidnapped South Koreans worked for Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., and the other two are from the state-invested Korea Gas Corp., the ministry said. A Nigerian was also kidnapped, South Korea said.

The Koreans were "in good health and have been returned to one of our bases," the militants said. "As long as the units holding these individuals do not come under attack, no harm will come to the prisoners. We do not kill those fortunate to be captured by our fighters."

The militants said they launched the assault just after midnight, attacking and burning a military houseboat used by security forces at the Daewoo facility, and killing some of its occupants.

The militants said four Nigerian naval vessels launched a counterattack, sparking a battle that destroyed a military boat that had six soldiers aboard at the time.

"The remaining three boats fled the scene with heavy casualties," the militants said, adding that they had no precise figure on those killed or wounded. One militant was also killed and two others wounded during the skirmish.

There were 14 South Korean workers at the site, but the other nine escaped and took shelter in a control room, the ministry in Seoul said. A Nigerian man was also kidnapped, it said.

The militants said they would target "facilities of crucial importance to the oil industry" in more attacks in the next few weeks.

"Oil companies in the Niger Delta are again warned to leave while they can."

Violence and sabotage of oil operations have been common in the Niger Delta for the past 15 years.

Militants blasted oil pipelines and taken hostages earlier this year, cutting oil production in Africa's largest producer of crude by nearly 20 percent and sending prices soaring on international markets.

The government says the militants are little more than criminal gangs.

Last week, unidentified militants from southeastern Bayelsa state who were demanding jobs and money kidnapped six Britons, one American and one Canadian from an offshore oil platform. All were released unharmed days later.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, on a visit to Nigeria in March, signed an energy-cooperation agreement with President Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigeria's state oil company and the Korean National Oil Co. also signed a deal to collaborate in the exploration of two oil fields in the south.

Militants Report

2006-06-07T15:30:00.000+01:00

Nigerian militants on Wednesday staged a bloody attack on an oil facility in the Port Harcourt area, abducting five South Korean oil workers to be held until two imprisoned local leaders are freed from jail. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta had been threatening a major attack against a facility on Bonney Island and this appears to fulfilll that threat.

E-mails and phone calls from the militants to reporters in Nigeria described a huge attack on the facility, a strike that caused deaths and injuries.

A militant said that 10 boats with seven people on each vessel staged the attack for the purpose of freeing two prominent Ijaws, the ethnic group predominant in the oil-rich region.

One militant reported that 17 Nigerian security forces were killed, a naval gunboat was sunk, and a drilling rig and a naval houseboat were destroyed. But another e-mail indicated that the number of deaths could not be determined.

The militant referred to the South Koreans as "prisoners of war" and said the captives are being treated well. AK-47s and machine guns also were seized from the Nigerian forces, the militant said.

This is the latest kidnapping incident in southern Nigeria, where militants, demanding a greater share of oil wealth for the Niger Delta region, have engaged in kidnapping and sabotage against oil industry targets.

On Friday, six Britons, an American and a Canadian were kidnapped from an oil rig off the Nigerian coast and were released on Sunday.

The Wednesday action was significant because it involved a coalition -- the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the Martyrs Brigade, and the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force.

The militants are calling for the release of Dokubo Asari, NDPVF militia leader who had been charged with treason last year, and Diepreye Alamiesegha, an ex-governor of the region who has been charged with corruption.

They have identified the Korean hostages as H.J. Kwon, A. Park, S.B. Kim, O.K. Kim, and H.D. Kim and called for an exchange of hostages.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry verified five South Korean and a Nigerian were abducted early Wednesday in the Port Harcourt area. Nine other South Koreans fled and were hiding from the militants who staged the kidnappings.

Three of the kidnapped South Koreans are from Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co., and two are from Korea Gas Corp., the Foreign Ministry said. No information was immediately available on the abducted Nigerian.

This comes as Edmund Daukoru, Nigeria's oil minister, visited South Korea this week to promote investment.

The militants did not make reference to the kidnapped Nigerian. They said they took five S. Korean oil workers "attached to Daewoo, a service company working for Shell."

Koreans Kidnapped

2006-06-07T15:25:00.000+01:00

An unidentified armed group in Nigeria kidnapped five South Korean workers at an island near Port Harcourt, an oil producing region in southern Nigeria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Wednesday.

Their safety and whereabouts were not immediately known. The motive of the kidnapping was also unknown.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed that they abducted the Koreans, wire news services reported. But the ministry did not confirm the stories.

``We are currently trying to identify the kidnappers and their demands,'' a ministry official told reporters, requesting not to be named.

Since the mid-1990s, a number of militant groups in oil-producing areas have challenged the Nigerian government by abducting foreign workers, citing political alienation and economic exploitation.

The Korean workers was raided for around 1 hour from 11:30 p.m., local time, by militants who fired rockets from a boat to the gas gathering plant operated by Daewoo Engineering and Construction, the ministry official said.

Daewoo is under contract with Royal Dutch Shell since April 2001 to build the facility at Bonny Island in Cawthorne Channel, 40 minutes away from the Port Harcourt by high-speed boat.

Korean workers were test running the plant after finishing the construction in March. They were scheduled to return to South Korea in August.

Thirteen Nigerian soldiers tried to deter the attack but failed to safeguard the Korean workers, apparently due to the inferiority of their forces, the ministry official said.

An unidentified number of those soldiers were killed during the engagement, wire news services reported. But the ministry did not confirm the reports either.

The Korean abductees include three from Daewoo, one from the Korea Gas Corp. and one from the Korea Gas Technology Corp. A Nigerian worker was also kidnapped along with the five Koreans.

Nine other South Koreans, who escaped the kidnapping, fled to the construction site control room. They were later taken to a safe area via helicopter, the ministry official said.

The ministry said it was in close contact with Daewoo and promised to do everything necessary for the safe release of the victims. The government formed a task force and held an emergency meeting to discuss ways for their safe return.

Twenty-seven similar cases happened in the same area since January 2005. Even though there have been a number of casualties during the kidnapping, most have been freed unharmed after being detained, the ministry said.

Analysis of a Growing Crisis

2006-06-05T19:39:00.000+01:00

Gunmen storm an oil rig 40 miles offshore in the dead of night and capture eight foreign workers.

Hostages are held in remote creeks for 38 days.

Militants use mobile phones to blow up a car bomb at an army barracks.

Before this year, none of this had happened in the troubled history of the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, home to Africa's biggest oil industry. And analysts say the violence will get worse -- not least because of the government's response.

Already, the toll is heavy. An unknown number of people have been killed in militant attacks on oil facilities and in retaliatory army raids on riverine villages. And a quarter of Nigerian oil output has been shut down since February, threatening economic growth in Africa's most populous country.

The past five months have not been the bloodiest the region has known, nor the most devastating in terms of cuts in oil production. But security analysts worry about the increasingly ruthless and sophisticated tactics of local armed groups.

They say no Niger Delta group had previously staged an attack as far out to sea as a kidnapping raid on a deepwater rig on June 2. Hostage takings have lasted longer this year than ever before, and car bombings are new to the region.

"Nobody is safe, either onshore or offshore," said a security source. "It's extremely worrying because the next step up could be an attack on a large offshore facility like Bonga," said the source, referring to a Royal Dutch Shell oilfield that produces over 200,000 barrels per day of crude.

Violence in the delta has complex causes. Most of the region's inhabitants are dirt poor and they have seen few benefits from decades of oil extraction which has polluted their air and water, threatening livelihoods in fishing villages. There are no roads, teachers or doctors in most parts of the delta, which is not connected to the national electricity grid. This makes the region a fertile recruiting ground for armed groups, although most of these are better at kidnapping oil workers for ransom or stealing crude oil from pipelines than they are at fighting for the rights of their people.

Groups fight for control of the lucrative trade in stolen oil, while lawlessness and a web of corrupt relationships between politicians, the military and local militias ensures that anyone with enough guns or money makes a good profit. The situation is further complicated by political struggles ahead of next year's elections, when powerful state governors' jobs will be up for grabs and patronage networks at stake.

Activists in the delta complain that the government applies quick-fixes but fails to address underlying problems. Many were dismayed by the decision on May 19 to award an oil exploration license to Niger Delta United Oil, a vehicle for militants whose names have not been disclosed. "It's temporary appeasement that plants the seeds for future disaster," said Miabiye Kuromiema, a leader of the Ijaw Youth Council which seeks to represent the delta's biggest tribe. "No one knows who got the license so rightly or wrongly people are assuming it was given to those who have been agitating against the oil industry ... There is nothing to stop other groups from contending for benefits through violence."

The government said the award of the license would foster development because the company would reinvest in power and education for the community. However, this will be hard to monitor given the lack of transparency. Furthermore, analysts say the militants do not have the capability to drill for oil and they are likely to hold the asset until the time is right to sell it for a profit.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, pressured into action by this year's unrest, invited politicians, activists and traditional rulers from the delta to a series of meetings that resulted in pledges of investments in infrastructure for the region. But these fell well short of the popular demand for "resource control" or greater local power over oil wealth.

"Resource control is a genuine cause for many in the delta, and if you created a mechanism where it could work and where people felt they had a stake, you could create a more stable environment," said Antony Goldman, an independent risk analyst. "Unfortunately Nigeria has perfected crisis management but nobody is thinking long-term," he said.

Hostages Said to be Released

2006-06-04T17:51:00.000+01:00

Eight foreign oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria were released Sunday, a local government spokesman said, adding that he was with them in the presence of the governor of a southeast Nigerian state.

"All the hostages have been released. They are with the governor now," said Ekiyor Welson, spokesman for Bayelsa state in the southern Niger Delta region where the eight were kidnapped from an offshore oil rig Friday. He spoke from spoke from the state capital, Yenagoa.

Six Britons, one American and a Canadian were kidnapped from a rig that was drilling off Nigeria's southern coast. The oil rig was operated by Aberdeen, Scotland-based Dolphin Drilling Ltd. for the Nigerian oil company Peak Petroleum.

Confusion surrounded the men's fate earlier Sunday, with a police spokesman first reporting all eight were released then retracting his statement to say the kidnappers had only released two Britons. A presidential spokeswoman had said the other six were expected to be released soon.

Diplomats from the Canadian, British and U.S. embassies in Nigeria could not be reached for comment. In London, officials at Britain's Foreign Office said they were still looking into reports the men had been freed.

Police declined to say whether a ransom was paid and did not say who was responsible for the hostage-taking.

The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta, the main militant group responsible for a wave of attacks and hostage takings this year in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, has said it was not responsible for the kidnappings.

The group, known as MEND, which has kidnapped oil workers in the past as part of a campaign for a better distribution of Nigeria's oil wealth, had said it believed the most recent kidnapping was purely a moneymaking scheme.

Speaking before the hostages' release, Dolphin spokeswoman Sheena Wallace said she did not have the names of the missing crewmen or information about the kidnappers' demands. She said she did not know what group was behind the kidnapping. Local representatives of the company could not be reached for comment.

In recent months, oil-region militants have blown up oil pipelines and kidnapped other foreign workers. MEND has claimed responsibility for two kidnappings and blown up oil installations. The group's actions have cut oil production in the country and helped drive prices higher on international markets.

Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo had called the abduction a "misunderstanding" between local communities and the oil company but did not elaborate.

Nigerian militants have justified other such kidnappings as part of their campaign for local control of oil revenues. Other groups have kidnapped oil workers as bargaining chips to prod companies to increase jobs or improve benefits. The kidnappings usually end peacefully.

Last month, an unidentified gunman riding a motorcycle shot and killed an American traveling in a car to work at the offices of the U.S. drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc. in the southern Nigerian oil hub of Port Harcourt.

Nigeria, which normally pumps 2.5 million barrels of crude a day, is the fifth-largest source of oil imports to the United States.

AP

World crude oil prices surged above 72 dollars Friday on concerns over Nigeria. New York`s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, rose 1.99 dollars to 72.33 dollars per barrel in closing trades.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery rose 1.64 dollars to 71.03 dollars per barrel.

Gunmen kidnapped eight foreign workers on an oil rig off the coast of Nigeria Thursday night, posing a new threat to the oil output of the west African country, the biggest oil exporter in the continent. About one-fourth of Nigeria`s daily output is still shut after a series of militant attacks. Nigeria is Africa`s leading oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

Angola Press

Hostage Update

2006-06-03T20:48:00.000+01:00

Security analysts say the real motivation of most kidnappers is to get hefty ransoms from oil companies, which usually pay up. The companies deny this, but analysts say the practice exists and encourages abductions. The company source said the eight hostages were being well treated and their captors had allowed a delivery of food, clothes and toiletries for the men. "Everyone is in good health. The captives are being allowed to use the satellite phone. They made three calls to our Port Harcourt base yesterday and one of them was allowed to call his wife at home," said the source. The men are believed to be held in a swamp in the Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state, the coastal area nearest to the Bulford Dolphin rig where the raid took place.

Deep Offshore Raid a Bad Omen

2006-06-03T14:56:00.000+01:00

For at least the third time since January, negotiators in Nigeria have started talks to obtain freedom for eight foreign oil workers kidnapped on Friday, by armed militants seeking jobs for their friends and development for their communities.

The hostages include six Britons, one Canadian and one American. They were snatched from a Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig operating about 40 miles offshore.

Twenty to 30 armed men in four speedboats conducted the sophisticated operation, the first attack launched on a deep offshore facility. This attack, shows that even rigs far from shore are vulnerable.

This is a bad omen for the major multinational oil companies. In recent years, they have begun constructing facilities further offshore to avoid this very event

MEND, the organization that committed the two prior kidnappings, states it is not responsible for this one. This group demands greater local control of oil revenues but is accused by authorities of being a criminal gang bent on extorting money. It said on Saturday it had nothing to do with the Bulford Dolphin raid.

The rig is owned by the Norwegian oilfield services group Fred Olsen Energy ASA and leased to the Nigerian firm Peak Petroleum, which operates it in partnership with Equator Exploration.

Eight Kidnapped

2006-06-02T14:52:00.000+01:00

A group of eight Westerners -- six British, one American and one Canadian -- were kidnapped on Friday while working on an offshore oil rig in Nigeria, the platform's owners said.

A group of people climbed on board the Bulford Dolphin facility off Nigeria's southern coast at about 4am local time and seized the employees, a spokesperson for Norwegian firm Fred Olsen Energy told Agence France-Presse.

"National and other authorities are cooperating in solving the situation ... The drilling operation has been temporarily terminated. The incident has not caused any pollution or damage to the rig," the company said in a statement.

The Foreign Office in London also confirmed the kidnappings.

"These types of situations are not unusual in Nigeria, and we take them very seriously," a spokesperson said. "Our colleagues in Nigeria are contacting local officials in order to discover what has happened."

The rig is operated by Fred Olsen Energy's subsidiary, Dolphin Drilling, based in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, the spokesperson for the firm said.

Kidnappings of foreign workers have become increasingly frequent occurrences in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and world's sixth oil exporter with around 2,6-million barrels a day, derives more than 95% of its foreign exchange earnings from oil.

AFB

Shell Probing Oil Spill

2006-06-02T14:49:00.000+01:00

Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN), has dispatched a team of investigators to locate the site of an oil spill in its trunk line that has led to 50,000 barrels of oil a day being shut in, a spokesman for the company said Friday.

As a result of the spill, Shell has shut down four of its flow stations in Nembe in the Niger Delta - Nembe 1, 2, 3 and 4, the official said.

"We are trying to get to the site of the spill, which is in a swampy area, and then decide how to repair the trunk line," the spokesman said.

He said the spill occurred last weekend.

The spokesman said Shell had "no idea of the cause of the spill," and said it would be premature to attribute the incident to the activities of Niger Delta militants.

Attacks by the militants, who are fighting for regional control of Nigeria's oil resources, have cut Nigeria's oil production by more than 500,000 b/d, most of it from Shell's operations.

The Shell official said the location of the spill makes both the search for the site and subsequent repairs difficult. "We have first to create a dry environment and then determine what has happened."

Shell is Nigeria's largest oil-producing company, with nearly half of the country's output coming from the Shell Petroleum Development Company, a joint venture Shell operates with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNP.YY), EPNL and Agip (AGI.YY).

Shell contests huge Nigeria fine

2006-05-22T16:13:00.000+01:00

Oil giant Shell says it has appealed against a Nigerian court ruling that it pay $1.5bn to residents of the country's oil-producing region.

The high court had given Shell until 1200 local time (1100 GMT) on Monday to pay the fine but Shell says it will not comply until the appeal is heard.

The ruling against a Shell subsidiary was to compensate the Ijaw community for environmental damage in the region.

Meanwhile, Ijaw militants say they will step up attacks on oil installations.

Oil concession

The groups want more of Nigeria's oil wealth to benefit local communities.

Four groups - the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, the Coalition for Militant Action in the Niger Delta, the Martyrs Brigade, and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta - said they were forming a coalition to step up their opposition to the government.

Nigeria's oil output has been cut by about 25% after a series of attacks on oil installations and kidnappings of foreign oil workers.

During a visit to the region on Saturday, President Olusegun Obasanjo warned that the government would no longer tolerate militia attacks.

On Friday, the government announced that it had awarded an oil exploration concession to a local company with links to militant groups.

The fine was first ordered in February. On Friday, the court rejected a request to postpone the payment.

A Shell spokesman said he was disappointed by Friday's judgement, but would not comment further until the Appeal Court had heard the case.

The Ijaw have been campaigning since 2000 for compensation for environmental degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

They took the case to court after Shell - the biggest oil producer in Nigeria - refused to make the payment ordered by Nigeria's parliament.

Warning

Lawyers for the Shell Petroleum Development Company had argued in the federal court in Port Harcourt that the joint committee of the National Assembly that made the order in 2000 did not have the power to compel the oil company to make the payment.

In February, Ijaw community leader Ngo Nac-Eteli said that if Shell wanted to buy time by taking the case to the appeal court, the company would not be allowed to operate on Ijaw land until the case was settled.

He did not elaborate on how the community would stop Shell's operations.

The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in Port Harcourt says the case has the support both of community elders and the militant groups that have been attacking oil installations in the Delta region.

But our correspondent warns that even if the money is paid, the region would not necessarily be pacified unless the various groups were happy with how it was distributed.

Story from BBC NEWS

Niger Delta Companies Gain Concession

2006-05-19T18:28:00.000+01:00

Nigerian authorities on Friday allocated two lucrative oil blocks to companies based in the Niger Delta in a bid to douse tensions in the oil-rich restive southern region.

Two oil firms -- Cleanwaters Consortium and Niger Delta United -- were allocated operating production licences 289 and 233 respectively during a bidding exercise organised by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

"These companies are being promoted by youth and opinion leaders from the Niger Delta. It is part of government's initiative and measures to placate the restiveness in the region," DPR's director Tony Chukwueke told Agence France-Presse.

"These leaders attended the stakeholders' meeting [last month] on the problems of the region in Abuja. And they have participated and won the bids because government is committed to address their problems," he said.

At that meeting, President Olusegun Obasanjo publicly announced a legion of juicy offers, including jobs, roads, health and educational facilities for inhabitants of the impoverished region.

Chukwueke said the lucky firms now have the opportunity to be directly and actively involved in the control of the country's oil and gas resources, most of which are derived from the Niger Delta.

The region, home to Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil industry, has been the centre of unrest, militant attacks on oil firms and hostage-takings over demands for local control of Nigeria's vast oil wealth. -- AFP

Shell to Renew Production

2006-05-19T05:08:00.000+01:00

mand forecast for the year.

Shell's head of exploration and production, Malcolm Brinded told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Scheveningen, near The Hague Tuesday that SPDC has started the process of resuming production in Nigeria and its already negotiating with communities to clear way.

"I am very encouraged by the dialogue to ensure we get back to safe operations," he said adding that work in the region "may be back in weeks."

Shell, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NN-PC) and other partners in the joint venture were losing over 500,000 barrels a day of oil output at the end of March because of violence in the region and about one-third of the loss was Shell's share.

Violence escalated in January when militants blew up pipelines and kidnapped Shell contract workers, who were later released, halting shipments from an export terminal and the company has said it would return staff to parts of the Niger Delta only when it is safe.

SPDC Nigerian managing director, Mr. Basil Omiyi also told newsmen after the meeting that "Joint investigation teams are being put together at the moment to assess affected areas. We hope they will be able to visit the affected areas soon. First priority will be relief materials to affected communities and environmental cleanup. Once we are back in the field we will work to restore capacity as soon as possible."

Militant groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have consistently asked that foreign firms and the government should give a greater share of the region's oil wealth to locals.

Shell had early in the year shut in production from affected fields in the Niger Delta area which resulted in production deferment due to the resurgence of crises in the area.

Shell had then said in a statement that it continued to keep the situation in the western Delta under review but the oil firm evacuated workers from flowstations which had been shut down following the attacks.

"This is in line with our safety and security policy and we will return to these areas when normality is restored. The safety and security of our staff, contractors and communities in which we operate is our top priority.

"The affected area is one part of the Western Delta and the majority of SPDC's production in Nigeria remains unaffected. Production levels remain unchanged. 106,000 bpd (Shell share 30 per cent) remains shut-in from onshore production. Separately and unrelated to recent events, production at the offshore EA field remains shut in for technical reasons, after briefly resuming production last week. This is a deferment of 115,000 bpd.

"We continue to cooperate with the authorities and offer every assistance we can for the safe release of those held hostage," the oil company added.

Meanwhile, crude-oil futures fell yesterday after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) slightly reduced its demand forecast for 2006 and predicted that the world's supply cushion would rise significantly by the end of the year.

But oil prices are still 41 percent higher than a year ago as the market remains anxious about the West's nuclear standoff with Iran, supply disruptions in Nigeria and the upcoming Gulf of Mexico hurricane season.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 23 cents to $69.30 a barrel in electronic trading on NYMEX while gasoline futures slipped by more than 2 cents to $2.026 a gallon, and natural gas prices gained more than 9 cents to $6.345 per 1,000 cubic feet.

OPEC cut its forecast for 2006 world oil demand to 84.6 million barrels per day, a drop of 60,000 barrels a day from its previous estimate and explained in its monthly report that the revision was due to warmer weather in the US and high gasoline prices, which appear to have curbed some demand.

ExxonMobil Strikes Oil & Faces Strike

2006-05-19T05:01:00.000+01:00

ExxonMobil's subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Deepwater West, Ltd (Esso), yesterday announced it has drilled an oil discovery in Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 214, approximately 70 miles (113 kilometers) offshore Nigeria.

The Uge-1 discovery well was drilled in 4,144 feet (1,263 meters) of water to a total depth of 16,831 feet (5,130 meters) and encountered more than 300 net feet (100 meters) of oil.

The Uge-1 represents the first discovery on the OPL 214 licence and the structure is located approximately 90 miles (145 km) south-southeast of the Erha deepwater development.

The company said studies and data analyses are under way to fully evaluate the discovery and development options for the Uge well, which was drilled by Trans ocean's drill ship Deepwater Pathfinder.

Esso is the operator of OPL 214 with a 20 per cent working interest while other working-interest owners are Chevron Nigeria Deepwater B Limited at 20 per cent, Phillips Deepwater Expl-ration (Nigeria) Limited (a subsidiary of Conoc-oPhillips) at 20 per cent and Oxy Nigeria Exploration and Production Limited (a subsidiary of Occidental Petr-oleum Corporation) at 20 per cent.

Others are Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NNPC), at 15 per cent, Sasol Exploration and Production Nigeria Limited at five per cent. NNPC is the concessionaire.

Generally, a working interest entitles the owner to a share of the oil revenue from the site in exchange for picking up the costs of exploration, development and operation.

ExxonMobil is a leader in the discovery and development of deepwater hydrocarbon resources in West Africa, where it has interests in 17 blocks totaling more than 10 million gross acres.

The company has a leading position in nearly all the major exploration and production areas in the world and the industry's strongest portfolio of proprietary geo-science and engineering technology.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil's senior employees in Nigeria have threatened to go on strike unless the management agrees to their demand for a pay rise.

"We gave the management a seven-day notice with effect from last Friday (May 12) to review our remuneration or they will be faced with an industrial action that will paralyse the company's operations," the Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) said.

A spokesman for the company confirmed the strike warning and said ExxonMobil was in talks with the workers to avert industrial action. "There is nothing to worry about. The company is negotiating with the union to resolve the matter," Paul Arinze said.

ExxonMobil is the second largest oil operator in Nigeria after Shell and it exports around 650,000 barrels per day of the country's overall production of 2.5 million barrels.

The strike threat risks further unnerving the world energy market, which is already jittery about the international crisis over Iran's controversial nuclear programme and unrest in the Niger Delta.

Nigeria's current oil production rate is 20 per cent below normal due to the unrest in the Delta region.

Over the past three months, militants have carried out series of attacks on Niger Delta oil facilities, forcing foreign multinationals to cut exports from Nigeria but ExxonMobil has not been directly affected by the crisis.

Shell Looks Forward to Normalcy

2006-05-17T11:56:00.000+01:00

Royal Dutch Shell may resume work in the next few weeks in parts of the Nigeria's Delta region affected by rebel attacks, Shell's head of exploration and production said Tuesday.

Shell, state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. and other partners in the joint venture were losing about 455,000 barrels a day of oil output at the end of March because of violence. About one-third of the loss was Shell's share.

"I'm very encouraged by the dialogue to ensure we get back to safe operations," Malcolm Brinded, head of exploration and production, told shareholders at Shell's annual general meeting in Scheveningen, near The Hague. Work in the region "may be back in weeks," he said.

Violence escalated in January when militants blew up pipelines and kidnapped Shell contract workers, who were later released, halting shipments from an export terminal. Shell executives including Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer have said since that the company would return staff to parts of the delta only when it was safe.

"Joint investigation teams are being put together at the moment to assess affected areas," Shell's top manager in Nigeria, Basil Omiyi, told reporters after the meeting. "We hope they will be able to visit the affected areas soon. First priority will be relief materials to affected communities and environmental cleanup. Once we are back in the field we will work to restore capacity as soon as possible."

Violence directed against Nigeria's oil industry and foreign companies may last throughout 2006 because presidential elections are next year, Citigroup analysts said in a Feb. 28 report.

Militant groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta say foreign firms and the government should give a greater share of the region's oil wealth to locals.

Van der Veer told Nigerian environmental activists at the shareholder meeting Shell is working to stop gas flaring, a practice residents say leads to pollution and health problems.

"Gas flaring has severe health consequences and is a primary contributor to a host of problems that include acid rain, retarded crop yield and respiratory diseases," Friends of the Earth said in a statement.

Shell's New Security Measures

2006-05-16T16:46:00.000+01:00

Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy group, has issued a tender for about 70 boats in an effort to strengthen security in Nigeria's delta region.

According to a Shell tender document obtained by the Financial Times and dated January this year, the boats would be required "24 hours a day, 7 days a week . . . to support round-the-clock drilling and production operations of Shell".

Shell has been the target of attacks in the Niger Delta this year.

The attacks have cut oil production by 455,000 barrels per day, basically halving output, and coincided with the kidnappings of several Shell oil contractors.

Production has not returned to normal in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter since the last big attack in February.

Jeroen van der Veer, Shell's chief executive, said the company, Nigeria's biggest foreign oil producer, was having to "rethink completely" how it handled security and community relations in Nigeria.

"I know the Niger Deltapretty well. I think you need patrol boats there. You have to rethink completely and pull up your socks. We now have experiences that we didn't have before, so you have to do things differently," he said, adding that this was "for the local management to figure out".

The Nigerian security forces have been unable to protect installations and oil workers from attacks and abductions by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), a group that emerged late last year.

Security analysts say Nigeria's military is hamstrung by a lack of discipline and poor equipment.

The tender document said the boats would include landing craft, airboats and hovercraft.

Security experts with knowledge of the tender said the boats would probably not be able to mount heavy weapons. But a member of Nigeria's energy ministry who deals with security issues in the delta said they would have the capacity to fit armed Nigerian security on board. Oil multinationals already train and handle payments for special Nigerian police units seconded to protect their facilities.

Nigeria's largest oil producer sources most of its Nigerian oil from the delta, an impoverished area of mangrove swamps peppered with thousands of settlements.

Shell is in talks with community leaders in the delta to make arrangements to re-enter areas that have been the focus of militant attacks this year, but no field operations have taken place.

Mend, which says it fights for the rights of the delta's majority tribe, the Ijaw, says it will continue attacks.

Many Ijaw leaders say they have been cheated of their oil wealth by the government and multinationals.

Pipeline Explosion Kills 200

2006-05-12T18:20:00.000+01:00

A pipeline explosion killed up to 200 people on the outskirts of Lagos on Friday, leaving charred corpses on a sandy beach where locals tapping the pipe to steal fuel ignited the blast.

The Red Cross said the pipeline blew up in the early hours of the morning while thieves were siphoning fuel into jerry cans for sale on the black market. The massive explosion cooked everything within a 20 meter radius.

Only gray calcinated skulls and bones were left of five people who were closest to the pipeline, which had been dug out of the sand and bore marks of drilling in several places.

About 100 blackened, unrecognizable corpses were strewn on the water's edge a few meters away, where the golden sand was still steaming hot on Friday afternoon.

Some bodies, charred and bloated, floated in the waters of the creek, which is only about a mile from Lagos city center by boat.

"You can see the corpses. Some are burned to ash. Others are remnants. ... We estimate 150 to 200 people died," Lagos State Police Commissioner Emmanuel Adebayo said at the scene.

Theft of petrol and crude oil from pipelines is common in Nigeria, an oil producing country where the vast majority of people live in poverty.

"This is caused by hunger and greed. If you've got no job and you're hungry you take advantage of anything to feed your family. Anyone who takes this kind of risk is desperate," said Olanrewaju Saka-Shenayon, a Lagos State government official.

The pipeline, which belongs to state company Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), runs just under the surface of Inagbe Beach, a stretch of golden sand on one of many islands that dot the Atlantic coast around Lagos.

It carries petrol from a large tanker jetty to a distribution depot inland.

Local government workers wearing rubber gloves hauled bodies out of the water and used a makeshift stretcher to carry them up the beach to a shallow grave a short distance away.

About a dozen police and a few Red Cross officials were at the scene.

Inagbe Beach is not a populated area but hundreds of mostly young men apparently came there to tap into the pipeline at the dead of night. The beach is a short distance away from the village of Ilado, where about 50 people died in a similar inferno last year.

A dilapidated port city home to an estimated 13 million people, Lagos has been hit before by devastating explosions. A blast at a munitions dump in 2002 killed more than 1,000 people.

In Jesse, in the southern state of Delta, a pipeline fire also caused by vandals killed about 250 people in 2000.

200 Killed in Bunkering Incident

2006-05-12T18:08:00.000+01:00

A ruptured gas pipeline exploded as villagers collected fuel in southwestern Nigeria Friday, killing up to 200 people and leaving charred bodies scattered around the blast site. Rescue workers dug a ditch near the blast site in Ilado, a village about 25 miles east of Nigeria's main city of Lagos. Lagos Police Commissioner Emmanuel Adebayo said the victims would be buried in a common grave.

Expats Freed

2006-05-12T11:07:00.000+01:00

Three foreign oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria have been released, Italy's energy company ENI SPA said Friday.

Gianni Di Giovanni, spokesman for ENI SPA, told private TV Sky Italia that the three, including one Italian, were freed overnight and were in good condition.

The three were abducted in southern Nigeria on Thursday.

"They are well, they were not subjected to any violence," Di Giovanni said.

The spokesman indicated the kidnapping might be motivated by contract dispute between the oil company and the local workers. He did not give more details.

Also on Friday, the Italian Foreign ministry confirmed the release in a statement, saying the Italian, Vito Macrina, had been freed and taken to an ENI SPA venue in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers region. Enditem

Kidnapping Update

2006-05-11T18:40:00.000+01:00

Gunmen kidnapped at least two foreign oil workers from a bus in southern Nigeria Thursday, a day after a U.S. oil worker was killed in the same city, a hub of this country's oil industry.

Two foreign nationals were seized as they rode to work in Port Harcourt, police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi told The Associated Press. He gave no further details.

In Italy, the Foreign Ministry said an Italian and possibly two more people were kidnapped Thursday in Port Harcourt in what appeared to be the same incident.

It was the second attack in about 24 hours on foreigners in Port Harcourt, where many oil-services companies base their main Nigerian operations.

A gunman riding a motorcycle killed an American riding in a car to work Wednesday at the offices of the U.S. drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc.

Crude oil futures jumped more than $1 a barrel Thursday after the news intensified worries about supply disruptions in Africa's leading oil exporter, the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

A militant movement whose attacks on oil installations have cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrel daily production said Tuesday it would target oil workers with fresh attacks.

But a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mail to The Associated Press Thursday that the group wasn't responsible for either the slaying or the kidnappings.

The group has kidnapped American and other foreign oil workers and released them unharmed.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed that it had information that Thursday's kidnapping stemmed from a "community related dispute" between inhabitants of the Bukuma township and oil companies.

Italy said the kidnapped Italian man works for Saipem, which is 43 percent-owned by the Italian energy company Eni and provides engineering, procurement, project management and construction service for the oil and gas industry, with a specialization in activities in deep water and remote areas.

Eni said it had no details of the kidnapping but was talking to its staff in Nigeria to find out more. Company officials in Nigeria weren't immediately available for comment.

More on Kidnapping

2006-05-11T17:07:00.000+01:00

At least two foreign oil workers have been kidnapped from a car under police escort in Nigeria's oil capital.

The kidnapping in Port Harcourt comes a day after a US oil executive was shot dead in the city.

A rebel group waging a five-month-old campaign of attacks against the industry said it was not involved in the abduction, which police and oil industry sources attributed to a community dispute.

Industry sources said the foreigners were employees of Italian oil contractor Saipem and the Italian foreign ministry said they included at least one Italian national.

Industry sources originally said three foreigners were taken on Thursday, but a US government security alert quoted a Saipem official as saying there were only two, the industry source said.

Police said one suspected kidnapper had been arrested.

An oil industry source, who asked not to be named because of his company's policy, said: "A group of expatriates were kidnapped in Port Harcourt city.

"They had mobile [armed] police escort, but the kidnappers got the mobile police out of the car and kidnapped the expatriates."

Community blamed

Samuel Agbetuyi, Rivers State Police Commissioner, said reports of the kidnapping were still sketchy.

Between one and three expatriates were involved, but there were no reports of casualties, he said.

"One of those who did it has been arrested," he said.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, whose attacks against the world's eighth-largest oil exporter have cut output by a quarter, told Reuters by email that they were not responsible.

Police and industry sources attributed it to a community problem.

An oil industry source said talks were already under way with the community to secure their release.

Kidnapping is a fairly common method used by impoverished villages in the lawless delta, suffering neglect from their own government, to extract benefits or cash from oil companies.

US worker killed

On Wednesday a gunman on a motorcycle shot dead a US citizen working for Baker Hughes, a Texan oil services company.

Diplomatic and oil industry sources said the killing was probably an isolated incident related to a work dispute.

Port Harcourt is the largest city in the Niger Delta, which pumps all of Nigeria's oil, and several multinationals have offices there, including Royal Dutch Shell and Agip.

From Ajazeera

THIS DAY's Report

2006-05-11T16:55:00.000+01:00

This is the story of the murder of a Baker Hughes executive in Port Harcourt as reported in This Day.

An American oil worker was yesterday shot dead by an unknown gunman at Abuloma near Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The American, identified as Mr. Ricky Wigingon, was shot dead at about 7.30am while on his way to work at Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt.

Eyewitnesses told THISDAY yesterday that Wigingon who works for an oil service firm, Hughes Baker Limited was shot point blank by a gunman riding on a motorcycle.

The motorcyclist was said to have moved very close to the side where the American was seated at the back of his car, before he opened fire.

Wigingon was said to have died before help could come his way, just as the gunmen sped off on the motorcycle.

Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Samuel Adetuyi confirmed the incident, saying that he has already visited the scene of the incident and the company where Wigingon worked.
Adetuyi who was apparently disturbed by the incident, also disclosed that the body of the American has been deposited in the mortuary. He did not however disclose the name of the mortuary.

According to the Rivers State Police boss, “nothing was taken from the American. Even valuables in the car were not tampered with”.

Said he: “It is true that an American was killed this morning by unknown gunmen. I have visited the scene of the incident and the company where he worked. We are yet to arrest anybody in connection with the incident but my men have already swung into action to unravel the mystery behind the killing.

“We want the public to feed us with information. We want the public to assist us. This is because without the support and co-operation of the public, there is little we can do”.

The killing of the American brings to two, the number of those who have lost their lives in similar circumstances in recent times in the garden city. A former member of the House of Representatives in the defunct Second Republic, Hon. Prince Sagha was last week killed in the presence of his family at Bowei, his hometown in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The killings have sent panic and fear into the hearts of Port Harcourt residents as many now go to bed early to avoid being killed by gunmen who seemed to be in prowl on the streets of Port Harcourt.

Local Newspaper Reports Death of Baker Hughes Exec

2006-05-11T16:41:00.000+01:00

The following report is from the Port Harcourt newspaper, The Tide's online edition:

Police in Rivers State have commenced intensive investigation to unravel the identity of two gunmen who killed a whiteman suspected to be an American in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

The State Police Commissioner, Mr Sunday Adetuyi, said this while speaking in an interview with newsmen at Government House, Port Harcourt, few hours after the incident.

The Tide gathered that the man who was simply identified as Ricky, was shot on his way to work, around “Mothercat” in the Trans Amadi Industrial Area of Port Harcourt.

Mothercat is a major intersection in the expansive industrial estate, and is known for its heavy traffic in the morning rush hours.

According to our source, the two gunmen who were riding on a motor-cycle trailed close to the side of the car where he was seated, when he got to “Mothercat” short him dead and escaped with their motor-cycle.

Mr Ricky was said to be a manager with Baker and Hughes, an oil service company located in the Trans-Amadi Industrial Area.

EXPATS KIDNAPPED FROM PORT HARCOURT

2006-05-11T16:19:00.000+01:00

This morning, two expatriate employees of Saipem, an Italian oil field drilling, construction and service company with offices in Port Harcourt, the largest city in Nigeria oil fields, were kidnapped. This comes upon the heals of the murder of an American executive of Baker Hughes in Port Harcourt yesterday.

Information is sketchy, but it is being reported that officials speculate neither the murder nor the kidnapping were perpetrated by militants who have been attacking multinational oil companies and their facilities in and offshore from Nigeria. Yesterday, MEND denied any connection to the early morning assassination. Thus far, there has been no group taking credit for the kidnapping.

More on Slain Executive

2006-05-11T11:37:00.000+01:00

A gunman on a motorcycle shot dead a U.S. executive in Nigeria's oil heartland Wednesday, authorities said.

Militants who have attacked the oil industry for five months said they had no hand in the killing of the executive, who worked for Texas oil services company Baker Hughes Inc. A diplomat and oil industry source said it was more likely the slaying was linked to a work-related dispute.

Baker Hughes spokesman Gene Shiels confirmed that the victim, Ricky Wiginton, 51, worked as an operations manager for a division of the company. His hometown was not immediately available. The U.S. Embassy said it was investigating the report.

The executive was being chauffeured through a violent area of the city when he was shot in the chest, an industry source said. The gunman was apparently working in coordination with a car that impeded escape.

In an e-mail, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta denied involvement. MEND has bombed oil facilities, kidnapped foreign workers and recently begun using car bombs.

Its attacks have led multinational firms to cut Nigerian oil exports by one-quarter.

The industry source said Baker Hughes had pulled its staff out of Port Harcourt as a precaution.

A company spokesman would not comment.

Port Harcourt is the largest city in the Niger River Delta, and several oil companies have large offices here. The city suffers from sporadic outbreaks of gang violence, and several deadly armed robberies have occurred recently.

Much of the violence stems from deep-seated resentment among inhabitants of the region, many of whom feel cheated out of the riches being pumped from their traditional lands.

Expats Leave Harcourt

2006-05-11T05:44:00.000+01:00

An executive of the U.S. oil service company Baker Hughes was killed in an apparently targeted attack in Nigeria's southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt on Wednesday, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to a five-month campaign by Niger Delta militants to cripple the oil industry in the world's eighth largest exporter, but a diplomat and an oil company source said they thought not.

"The American was shot by a man on a motorcycle. The motorcycle pulled up beside him and shot him," Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Agbetuyi told Reuters.

The Houston-based company, which drills oil wells and performs other services for big oil companies, was not immediately available for comment.

An oil company source said the gunman on the motorcycle appeared to be working in coordination with a car, and it looked like a targeted assassination of the American, who held a managerial role in the company.

Militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose attacks have cut Nigerian oil exports by a quarter, threatened this week to carry out attacks on oil industry targets and individuals.

However, they have treated American oil workers well during kidnappings, and the Port Harcourt killing did not bear any similarity to previous MEND attacks.

A diplomat said: "It looks like a targeted attack on that individual but my guess is that it was a private matter."

Staff evacuated

The oil industry source said Baker Hughes had decided to pull its staff out of Port Harcourt to Lagos as a security precaution.

Port Harcourt is the largest city in the Delta, and several oil multinationals have major offices there, including Royal Dutch Shell and Agip.

"It helps to reinforce the gloomy picture in Nigeria. A lot of subcontractors are worried about working in Port Harcourt now," the oil industry source said.

Even if the attack is not linked to MEND, it reinforces a trend of rising violent crime in the region, which pumps all of the OPEC member nation's oil.

The violence stems from deep-seated resentment by many inhabitants of the Delta, where impoverished villages stand close to multibillion-dollar oil facilities.

Many residents of the vast wetlands region feel cheated out of the riches being pumped from their tribal lands.

Neglect and rampant corruption have eroded trust in government, while communal rivalries and abuses by the military have fuelled the rise of well-armed community militias.

They have taken advantage of the absence of law and order to engage in large-scale theft of crude oil, extortion, blackmail and kidnapping against oil companies, who rely on ill-equipped and poorly trained police and military to protect them.

MEND Silent on Assassination

2006-05-10T18:19:00.000+01:00

A gunman riding a motorcycle shot to death an American oil worker Wednesday in a southern Nigeria city, police said.

Police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi said the American worked for the U.S. drilling equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc. and was riding in a car to his Port Harcourt office when he was shot. Adetuyi had no further details.

Baker Hughes spokesman Gene Shiels confirmed that the victim worked for the Houston-based company but would not identify him until his family was notified. Shiels said the company was seeking more information about the shooting. The U.S. Embassy also said it was investigating the report.

A new militant movement whose attacks on oil installations have cut more than 20 percent of Nigeria's of 2.5 million daily barrel production said Tuesday it would target oil workers with fresh attacks.

It was not clear if Wednesday's killing was linked to the threat from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A movement spokesman was not available for comment.

The rebel movement says it is fighting for local control of oil revenues by the impoverished inhabitants of the oil-producing delta who feel cheated out of the wealth produced in their backyards.

The group has kidnapped American and other foreign oil workers, but released them later unharmed.

EXPAT ASSASSINATED

2006-05-10T16:32:00.000+01:00

Port Harcourt, Nigeria - A US oil executive employed by Baker Hughes was killed in an apparently targeted attack in Nigeria's southeastern oil city of Port Harcourt on Wednesday, authorities said.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to a five-month campaign by militants in the Niger Delta to cripple the oil industry in the world's eighth largest exporter, but a diplomat and an oil company source said they thought not.

"The American was shot by a man on a motorcycle. The motorcycle pulled up beside him and shot him," Rivers State Police Commissioner Samuel Agbetuyi said.

Baker Hughes was not available for comment.

An oil company source said the assassin on the motorcycle appeared to be working in coordination with a car, and it looked like a targeted assassination of the American, who occupied a managerial role in the company.

A diplomat said: "It looks like a targeted attack on that individual but my guess is that it was a private matter."

The oil industry source said Baker Hughes had decided to pull its staff out of Port Harcourt to Lagos as a security precaution.

Mobil Hit By Militants

2006-05-03T05:56:00.000+01:00

A bloody protest by Ibeno youths in Akwa Ibom State yesterday left one dead, two others shot, two expatriates kidnapped and several wounded at the Qua Iboe terminal of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited MPN,a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation.

The youths barricaded the entrances of the terminal thereby making it impossible for employees, visitors and contractors to either enter or leave the facility .

THISDAY gathered that the youths were protesting last weekend’s arrest of one of their leaders who was by naval men stationed in the area.

The youths who were outside the terminal gates however overpowered the spy policemen guarding the QIT gates and gained entrance into the facility and in the process an expatriate employee and a spy policeman were said to have been stabbed while the youths kidnapped two other expatriate staff whom they have taken to an unknown destination.

The shootings however started at about 4pm when Naval men stationed at the area swooped on the youths firing gun shots which led to the killing of one of the youths .while three others were shot.

THISDAY gathered that several reasons led to this current invasion by the youths of the area who have been relatively calm for sometime now. One of the reasons for the restiveness of the youths was said to be the protest against an employee from the area who the youths wanted out because of their belief that he was not giving them quality representation.

This stand of the youths however pitched them against youths from the employee’s village in the area who wanted him to stay.This led to the fracas that led men of the Navy taking one of the leaders of the youths to an unknown destination.

The other reason is said to be the youths’ anger that MPN accords greater respect and attention to militants from Niger Delta’s neighbouring states like Bayelsa and Rivers States who recently invaded QIT.The youths claim that MPN paid the militants a large sum of money while their own demands are ignored.

As at the time of filing this report,workers are still trapped inside the QIT,while two of the youths shot by the naval men have been rushed to the hospital where doctors are battling to save their lives. Attempts by THISDAY to get an official position is still ongoing. An official promised to call back with an official explanation.

This Day Newspaper

Chaos Predicted

2006-05-02T20:25:00.000+01:00

As Nigeria heads for general elections in 2007, the biggest political battle gearing up in Africa's most populous country is not between the government and the opposition - it is between the president and the vice president.A powerful campaign to lift a two-term limit imposed by the constitution and have President Olusegun Obasanjo run for a third term, is only matched by the strength of the opposition against it, led by Vice President Atiku Abubakar.In recent weeks, both sides have drawn their battle lines.

Though Obasanjo has never stated a desire to run for a third term, his supporters recently submitted a bill in parliament, which if passed with a two-thirds majority will allow
Obasanjo to run again.Days later, Abubakar who has publicly declared his intentions to run as a presidential candidate in next year's polls, alerted the nation to what he said was a plot by his
boss to institute life presidency."When the constitution is amended, it means Nigeria will have a life president. I detest it and I urge all Nigerians to strongly and vehemently resist any move
that would actualise it," he told supporters in Yola, capital of his home state of Adamawa.

But the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), now apparently firmly controlled by Obasanjo supporters, has given its official support to the third term bid while setting up a panel to probe Abubakar for "anti-party activities".

"The National Executive Council of the party is asking its members to lobby our legislators at the National and State Assemblies to support and approve the draft [third term amendment] bill," said party secretary Ojo Maduekwe. Obasanjo, he said, had laid strong foundations for Nigeria's development and this process should not be curtailed by "exclusionary provisions" such as consitutional term limits.

DIVIDING A FRACTURED COUNTRY

But the spat between Obasanjo and Abubakar is not just dividing the PDP. It is dividing Nigeria.And in a recent statement the United States warned Obasanjo to refrain from constitutional amendments, saying many Nigerians believed the constitutional review was suffering from a lack of transparency.Already, a north-south splinter has emerged, with many influential politicians from the country's predominantly Muslim north - including Muhammadu Buhari, the main opposition challenger in the 2003 elections - now teaming up with Abubakar against Obasanjo, a Christian from southwest Nigeria.

Days after Abubakar spoke out against extending the president's tenure, he was heckled and abused by Obasanjo supporters while visiting Lagos, Nigeria's biggest city and Obasanjo's ethnic Yoruba stronghold.And in a tit-for-tat response following those incidents, a northern pressure group, the Arewa Coalition for Democracy and Good Governance, threatened retaliation."We make bold to say that an attack on the vice president is an attack on the North," said the group's leader Mohammed Ringim. "The North will hasten to retaliate in the event of another attack."

Just last week, angry protestors stoned Obasanjo's motorcade while he was on a visit to Kano, the biggest city in the mostly Muslim north.The north-south Muslim-Christian divide has been a source of trouble for decades in Nigeria.

Muslim northerners have dominated power for most of the years since the country's 1960 independence from Britain, either as military or civilian rulers. And when in 1993 military leader General Ibrahim Babangida annulled presidential elections about to be won by southern businessman Moshood Abiola, many in the mainly Christian south saw it as part of a wider plan by northerners to control the country.

Years of turmoil followed under two other northern military rulers before Obasanjo's 1999 election ended a 15 straight years of rule by northern Muslim generals. Obasanjo was backed by
key northern military brass as he was generally believed to be a safe hand who would protect northern interests and maintain a powerful central government in the face of increasing regionalist pressures.

In the eyes of many northerners, Obasanjo proved his trustworthiness in 1979. After taking over from a northerner killed in an attempted coup as head of a military government, he handed
over power to a civilian government with a northerner at its helm. Obasanjo is the only Nigerian military ruler to have relinquished power to a civilian government voluntarily.

MOTIVATED BY OIL MONEY

Control of political power in Nigeria determines how wealth from crude oil exports worth millions of dollars every year, is distributed among the country's 36 states and more than 250 ethnic
groups. After two years in office, many northerners complain of being marginalised by Obasanjo."Another term for Obasanjo is bad news for the North," said Bolade Omonijo, Nigerian newspaper columnist and political commentator.

"And they have chosen to speak out and act."And its not just northerners that say they aren't getting their fair share. Southerners who live atop the country's lucrative oil fields in the Niger delta and other areas of the southeast dominated by the Igbo, are also demanding more.The Igbo who had led a failed secessionist attempt that would have included the Niger Delta during Nigeria's 1967-1970 civil war, allege they have been oppressed by successive presidents since than and denied the chance of producing a head of state.Resentment is similarly high in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where inhabitants accuse successive Nigerian governments of denying them the benefits of the oil wealth pumped from beneath their homes.

Militant groups are increasingly resorting to violence to press home their demands.Attacks on oil installations since January by a militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has cut Nigerian oil exports of 2.5 million barrels a day by more than 20 percent. MEND, which claims to be fighting for local control of oil wealth, too is opposed to Obasanjo remaining in office.

"We will act as a voice for the nation when Obasanjo decides to run for a third term," the militant MEND said in a recent statement. "Even if all the governors accept this foolishness, it will never come to be."

Analysts opine that a third term bid could plunge the country into chaos."If Obasanjo extends his tenure without regard for the feelings of the rest of the country … he will set the country on fire," said analyst Simon Kolawole. "It is going to be another era of protests, demonstrations, riots, civil disobedience, tear-gassing, arrests, detentions and killings."

MEND Keeps Its Promise

2006-05-01T17:12:00.000+01:00

IJAW militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for weekend's bomb attack on Warri refinery.

The blast occurred Saturday night in a car parked inside the Petroleum Products Tankers Park close to the refinery but no casualty was reported.

MEND's claim is the second in 10 days as the group had claimed responsibility for the April 20, bomb explosion at an army barracks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Reacting to the blast, Chief of Army Staff, (COAS), Lt. Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, said the military is ready to dialogue with militants on the issues at stake to enthrone lasting peace in the region.

The group, reports said, had e-mailed media houses before the explosion, announcing that the attack was going to take place.

Reiterating its demand for the region's control over oil, MEND said that it used a mobile phone to detonate 30kg of dynamite in the bombing.

It said the attack was a warning to all people working in the oil industry in Nigeria. It also made specific threats against China, which has just signed a major oil deal with Nigeria.

MEND said the bombing was a final warning to oil workers and future attacks would be directed against individuals.

"We have resolved to take our campaign out of the creeks (so) that every Nigerian may feel the true pains of the Niger Delta peoples," it said in an e-mail sent to the media.

It was referring to the mangrove-lined creeks of the Delta where many oil installations are located and where militant attacks, acts of sabotage and crude oil theft are frequent

"We wish to warn the Chinese government and its oil companies to steer well clear of the Niger Delta ... The Chinese government by investing in stolen crude (oil) places its citizens in our line of fire," MEND said.

Earlier this week, Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria and signed deals to explore Nigerian oilfields in return for a commitment to invest $4 billion in infrastructure to help develop Africa's most populous country.

MEND has staged a series of kidnappings and attacks against the oil sector in the world's eighth-biggest exporter that has forced companies to cut production by 550,000 barrels per day.

This has contributed to recent spikes in world oil prices, including last week's record high at over $75 per barrel.

The militants, who have abducted a total of 13 foreign oil workers this year and held some of them for several weeks, have warned all oil workers to leave the delta and vowed to halt exports completely. They have now freed all the hostages.

The use of car bombs is unusual in Nigeria but it was MEND's second such attack in nine days after a bombing close to an army barracks in Port Harcourt, a major city in a different part of the Niger Delta. That attack killed two civilians.

Soldiers guarded the site of the Warri explosion on Sunday and it was impossible to get close, but from a distance the blackened carcasses of five tanker trucks were visible.

The explosion, which was heard 4 km (2.5 miles) away, shattered the windows of the drivers' office 100 meters away and flung a chunk from one of the vehicles into the building where it crashed through a wall.

The Warri refinery has not been functioning for several months and the tanker trucks were empty at the time of the blast, apparently helping avoid a major fire.

A little-known group that first appeared in December, MEND is a coalition of militias which the government accuses of involvement in a lucrative trade in stolen crude oil.

But its demands - which also include the release of two jailed leaders from the region and compensation for oil spills - are shared by many activists in the area, where most people live in poverty despite the riches being pumped from their land.

In a related development, Gen Agwai, who waved the olive branch when he visited the Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili in Port Harcourt on Sunday, said that the offer should not be misconstrued as a mark of fear or intimidation.

He said that though the military was determined to contribute to the promotion of peace and security, it also remained committed to upholding its statutory role by doing everything to protect the interest, integrity and sovereignty of the nation.

Agwai commended the assistance given the army in the state by the Rivers State Government, following the recent bomb explosion in Port Harcourt and commended the collaboration between the army and other security agencies in the state in the wake of the unfortunate incident.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Alexander Ogomudia was yesterday told that the bomb blast that rocked the petroleum tanker drivers park in Warri on Saturday night may have been timed to start a series of explosions in the Niger Delta

General Ogomudia who was at the scene of the incident to carry out a first hand assesment of the blast was shown the deep crater created on the concrete floor of the park by police bombs disposal experts led by Superintendent of Police Mr. Job Olorijolu who led six others for a preliminary investigation of the incident.

Daily Champion gathered that over 200 trucks were at the park when the explosion occurred. The bomb was placed inside a Mercedes Benz 190 Saloon car metallic blue colour which was torn to shreads by the explosion.

The bomb which was suspected to have been timed to create several explosions among the oil tankers which were tightly parked together, failed as all they were yet to load as at the time of the incident as it was weekend, and no loading of products took place. Only eight of the trucks were badly damage.

We gathered that the devastation of the explosion would have affected the David Ejoor Barracks of the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army which also serves as Headquarters of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger Delta, also know as Operation Restore Hope.

When General Ogomudia who was accompanied by the Commander of the JTF, Brig. Gen. Alfred Ilogho, the Commanding Officer of the Warri Naval Base, NNS Delta, Navy Captain Mufutau Ajibade and the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom was surprised that there was no internal security arrangement for safeguarding property at the park by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

He was however told by the chairman of NUPENG, Petrol Tankers' Division (PTD), Mr. Matthias Ote that the unit made up of drivers are in no financial position to undertake the huge financial burden of erecting a perimeter fence for the park.

He said that they have been appealing to the Delta State Government, which donated the park to the union, to help built a fence around the park.

Oil Up, Again

2006-05-01T11:59:00.000+01:00

Oil rallied above $72 a barrel on Monday, extending a rebound toward record highs as Iran maintained a defiant stance in the face of possible U.N. sanctions and militants detonated a car bomb in Nigeria.

U.S. light, sweet crude zoomed 54 cents higher to $72.42 a barrel by 0640 GMT, adding to a 91-cent gain on Friday that helped limit last week's losses to 4.4 percent. Trading was thin due to holidays in much of Asia and Europe.

IPE Brent crude was up 43 cents at $72.45.

"Most people appear to be very nervous and are looking for something to happen between Iran and the U.N.," said Tetsu Emori, the chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures.

Oil has tumbled from a record peak $75.35 a barrel a week ago as dealers took profits and grew more confident about summer gasoline supplies, partly thanks to U.S. President George W. Bush's call to temporarily ease fuel standards.

But geopolitical jitters provided a solid base, analysts said, preventing prices from retracing much of the more than $11 gains they have registered this year.

"I think the oil market is in for a period of consolidation for a few days," said Tobin Gorey of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "I don't think there's any real interest in getting a sustained short on because it's simply too dangerous."

While oil prices look to be well supported at above $70, the momentum of a rally that had added $15 to prices from March 21 to April 21 had faded, Gorey added.

Iran, which the world's nuclear watchdog said last week had ignored calls to abandon its atomic program, vowed on Sunday to carry on pursuing a nuclear fuel cycle and to strike back if it comes under attack.

U.N. ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France are expected to introduce a Security Council resolution this week to legally oblige Iran to comply with demands to halt enrichment.

Failure to do so could result in limited sanctions, although Russia and China -- the other two veto-wielding council members -- say they do not favor such a move for now.

If the Security Council moves to slowly, the United States is ready to take steps outside the U.N. to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said.

Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian told a news conference in Pakistan that curbs on the country's oil industry were unlikely to be any part of U.N. sanctions, but dealers remain anxious over the world's fourth-biggest exporter.

Ongoing violence in Nigeria, where militants have succeeded in cutting production by a quarter, added support.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which wants more local control over the southern delta's oil wealth, said it had detonated 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite in a car bombing close to a refinery in the oil capital of Warri.

There were no casualties, an army spokesman said.

The militants said it was a warning to oil industry workers and investors, singling out the Chinese government, which last week clinched a multi-billion dollar deal for access to oil acreage.

Meanwhile speculative short-term fund managers expanded their net long positions a week ago, boosting New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) non-commercial net crude length to a fresh one-year high of more than 74,000 lots in a bet that prices would continue to rally, regulatory data showed on Friday.

MEND Back in News

2006-04-28T12:35:00.000+01:00

MEND THREATENS BOMBING

The U.S Consulate General received the following threat information:

On 25 April 2006, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) threatened to conduct a remote controlled car bombing in the Niger Delta in late April. The group also threatened to resume conventional attacks by the end of April or beginning of May 2006. These conventional attacks will be punctuated at regular intervals by car bombings that are directed at specific individuals that are betraying the cause of the Niger Delta or oil industry targets.

The embassy also received information indicating MEND intends to attack a liquid natural gas facility on Bonny Island in the Rivers State as a “last resort” if their demands are not met It is not clear what it will take to reach a last resort scenario, but smaller attacks preceding this event should be expected.

Oil Prices Skyrocket

2006-04-26T04:56:00.000+01:00

OIL prices edged back toward record highs yesterday as the threat of war on Iran and the disruption of supplies from Nigeria kept international traders nervous.

Meanwhile, Iran has refused to rule out the use of oil as a weapon in the worsening stand-off over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear quest.

In New York yesterday the new main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, rose 54 cents to $73.87 (€59.53) per barrel in electronic deals.

Earlier that same contract went as high as $75.35pb (€60.72), matching the record achieved last Friday.

ExxonMobil Takes No Chances

2006-04-26T04:53:00.000+01:00

U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil reinforced security at a major oil export terminal in Nigeria on Tuesday due to a threat of attack by militants, company officials and industry sources said. The measures, which industry sources said included asking non-essential staff to stay away from work, did not affect oil production and loadings at the 420,000 barrel-per-day Qua Iboe terminal in southern Nigeria.

A four-month campaign of sabotage, bombings and kidnapping by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has cut oil output from the world's eighth largest exporter by a quarter since Feb. 18. MEND accuses the central government of neglecting the delta, where impoverished fishing villages play host to a multi-billion dollar oil industry."We're just hiking security around the terminal," company spokesman Yemi Fakayejo said, declining to give details of specific measures.

"We don't discuss our security arrangements," said Susan Reeves, a company spokeswoman in the United States. The attacks have until now been focused on the western side of the delta, and targeted against Royal Dutch Shell . Another militant group known as the Martyrs' Brigade has been threatening a rocket attack on the Qua Iboe terminal, on the eastern side of the delta, but security sources said this group has no proven ability to carry out the threat.

ESSENTIAL SERVICES ONLY

An oil industry source who works closely with the terminal said: "There is security information that militants plan to attack the terminal, so they closed the gate and restricted movement to essential services."

"They told most of their staff to stay at home. They were instructed not to come to the terminal unless they had essential operations," said the source, asking not to be named. Crude oil prices hit record highs above $75 a barrel last week, spurred by tensions over Iran's nuclear programme and the attacks in Nigeria.

Last week, MEND killed two people in a car bomb at an army barracks in the eastern delta city of Port Harcourt, and it said on Tuesday that it planned a similar attack this week. "We will set off another remote controlled car bomb somewhere in the Niger Delta this week," MEND said in an email to Reuters, adding that it was not responsible for the threat against Exxon Mobil.

MEND says it will continue its attacks until it closes down Nigerian oil exports completely unless the government gives the delta, which accounts for all Nigerian oil output, more local control over its resources.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has tried to ease the crisis by promising to build a big new motorway through the remote region and creating 20,000 government jobs. But the militants have stuck to their demands, which also include the release of two jailed leaders from the delta and compensation for oil spills.

Cleric Decries Third Term

2006-04-23T02:56:00.000+01:00

President Olusegun Obasanjo has been warned not to embark on any action capable of plunging the nation into crisis following the raging debate on the issue of whether the President should run for a Third Term of office or not.

Giving the warning in Lagos at the weekend, the Founder, Christ Apostolic Church a.k.a No Other Way Christ Evangelistic Ministry, Pastor (Dr) James Folorunso Ajao advised President Obasanjo not to toy with the idea of going for a Third term in office adding that:

“To toy with the idea of running for a Third term will bring nothing but crisis. President Obasanjo should bow out honourably. The Third term agenda is an ill-wind that will not blow any good for its exponents. The president should learn to quit when the ovation is loudest. He has played his own role, he should let others continue from where he stops.”

While describing President Obasanjo as an international statesman who has made his mark, the cleric urged the President to shun psycophants surrounding him whom he said are telling him that the on-going reforms by his government will suffer if he leave office in 2007.

“What is happening today is that the president has become hostage to those who are out to protect their own selfish interests. The president should not be deceived. It is only change that is permanent and no individual can be greater than this nation. The president should respect the constitution. The polity is already overheated, and the only way to have peace and stability is for the president to be a man of honour by rejecting any attempt to lure him to run for a Third term,” he declared.

Pastor Ajao who advised members of the Nigerian political class not to over heat the nation’s polity through their actions and deeds said democracy should be allowed to survive.

“It appears as if our politicians have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing. Look at what is happening in the nation today. There is tension and anxiety in the land following inordinate ambition of some politicians to perpetrate themselves in office, and the avowed threat of resistance by those opposed to the move. But our politicians should remember that when two elephants fights, it is the grass that will suffer,” he warned.

The cleric who said that God had revealed a vision to him that danger looms ahead if the politicians failed to put their acts together said ordinary Nigerians should be spared the agony of any crisis precipitated by the failure of members of the political class to shun greed and corruptive tendencies.

“It is only in Africa that our own things are always done differently. We rarely respect the rules of the game. If our politicians can learn to respect the rules of the game, there will be peace and stability,” he started.

Nigeria Oil Earnings Plummet

2006-04-23T02:55:00.000+01:00

Nigeria's crude oil revenues fell by $702-million in February because of the unrest in the Niger Delta, the hub of the country's energy industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said on Friday.

Nigeria earned $3,177-billion from crude oil sales in February compared to $3,877-billion in January, the bank said in its monthly report.

Crude oil exports dropped from 1,96-million to 1,85-million barrels of oil per day from January to February, the CBN added. "This translates to a total of 51,8-million barrels sold in the month under review, down from 60,7-million barrels per day in January," it added.

Since January, separatist guerrillas who claim to represent the interests of the region's 14-million-strong Ijaw ethnic group have stepped up their attacks on the delta's oil industry, the biggest in Africa. Militants have killed at least 24 members of the security forces, kidnapped and released 13 western hostages and blown up several oil pipelines.

The delta is a 70 000 square kilometre swathe of swamp and forest on Nigeria's southern coast, where the Niger river reaches the Atlantic, and is home to several restive minority groups.

Nigeria earns almost $30-billion a year from the network of oil wells dotting the mangrove swamps, but most of the area's 22-million inhabitants live in poverty in polluted fishing communities and overcrowded cities.

This week President Olusegun Obasanjo unveiled a multi-billion-dollar development plan for the delta during a stakeholders' meeting in Abuja, but the region's militants have rejected it and threatened more attacks on the oil industry.

On Thursday, they claimed responsibility for a car bomb blast that killed two civilians and injured six more at an army barracks in the oil city of Port Harcourt.

Security Still A Major Concern

2006-04-23T02:52:00.000+01:00

A spokesman for Shell Petroleum Development Co. in Nigeria said Friday that security concerns in the troubled oil-rich Delta region continued to hamper the restart of up to a fifth of the country's crude output.

"We are not in a hurry to start crude oil production," said the official from SPDC, a Royal Dutch Shell PLC-led (RDSB.LN) joint venture with the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNP.YY).

The SPDC spokesman added: "What we are looking for is security. We want to be assured that we can walk in there and clean up the place and remain there to produce," he said.

A Shell spokeswoman in London reconfirmed Friday that 455,000 barrels a day of Nigerian production from its local joint-venture remained shutdown. Shell owns 30% in the venture, in which the Nigerian state oil company is a majority shareholder.

She added that the Forcados terminal and the offshore EA field remain under force majeure, a clause that allows suppliers of crude to halt deliveries to customers without a legal breach of contract.

In an e-mail late Thursday, the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said: "For the errant oil companies that still choose to remain and operate in our lands and waters, we shall come like a thief in the night."

Militants Wednesday changed tactics and carried out a car bomb attack at a military barracks in the oil center of Port Harcourt, killing at least one person. Previously, they have kidnapped foreign oil workers but released them unharmed.

Nigeria has also lost more than $1.5 billion in crude export revenues and the government recently moved in more troops to secure oil facilities in the Delta.

However, the Shell official said the presence of troops wasn't guarantee enough for the company to resume operations.

"Were the soldiers not there when the militants attacked the pipelines?" he asked.

"There is a difference between guarding a flow station and a pipeline, which runs across several kilometers," he noted.

Facilities attacked by the militants include flow stations and a pipeline belonging to SPDC; a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Co., a unit of Italy's Eni SpA (E), and a gas pipeline belonging to Chevron Corp. (CVX) unit ChevronTexaco Nigeria.

The group has also said it would target ExxonMobil Corp.'s (XOM) operations.

ExxonMobil said this week that crude output at its offshore Yoho facility is returning to normal following an "operational event" last weekend.

Its subsidiary, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, has developed the $1.3 billion Yoho project since 2002 and the shallow-water project currently produces about 150,000 b/d, with a peak production goal of 165,000 b/d, according to previous reports from the company.

MEND said Wednesday: "In the coming weeks, we will carry out similar attacks against relevant oil industry targets and individuals.

"At a time of our choosing, we will resume our attacks with greater devastation and no compassion on those who choose to disregard our warnings,' they warned in an e-mail signed by Jomo Gbomo.

Nigeria Announces Plan

2006-04-19T19:03:00.000+01:00

The Nigerian government has worked out a nine-point package plan to resolve the restive oil-rich Niger Delta crisis, local newspaper Vanguard reported Wednesday.

The report quoted Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as saying that the federal government had rolled out a string of definitive measures to develop the coastal states of the Niger Delta covering employment generation, transportation, education, health, telecommunications, environment, agriculture, power and water resources.

Under the development plan, Obasanjo said the government would resume construction of the abandoned East-West highway with an estimated investment of 230 billion naira (about 1.77 billion U.S.dollars) to link the backward Niger Delta region with Lagos, the nation's commercial capital in a bid to eliminate poverty and promote economic development of the coastal states of the Niger Delta.

He added that construction of the East-West highway project would begin in May, which would provide some 20,000 jobs for local people.

Under the whole package plan, the short-term measures will be implemented within two years, medium-term within over a period of two to five years and long-term measures within five years and beyond.

Meanwhile, President Obasanjo warned militant youths of the region to cease fire, stressing that socioeconomic development programs cannot flow alongside violence. He asked the governors to take the responsibility of talking to those guys (militant youths).

"You cannot carry a gun and expect a warm handshake," he said.

Despite its huge oil wealth, the Niger Delta is afflicted by sabotage, kidnappings and other forms of violence as villagers there accuse oil firms of not doing anything to develop the impoverished area.

Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa or the world's sixth largest oil exporter with a usual daily output of 2.5 million barrels and Niger Delta region's crude oil accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation's total. Enditem

Bird Flu Update #23

2006-04-19T19:01:00.000+01:00

A fresh outbreak of bird flu has killed 200 birds in Nigeria`s northern Katsina State, an indication that the authorities still need to do more to curtail the spread of the disease that hit the country in February.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the cases were recorded at the weekend in Bakori and Jargaba Council areas of Katsina State.

Halliru Atiku, Head of Agriculture Department of Bakori Local Council, was quoted as saying the Council had taken steps, including aggressive enlightenment campaigns, to prevent the spread of the disease to other parts of the State.

Katsina is one of the 12 States in Nigeria where the highly-pathogenic form of bird flu (H5N1) has been found.

The populous African country has 36 States.

Others affected States are Kano, Plateau, Yobe, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Benue, all in the north, as well as Anambra and Rivers, in the south-east and Ogun and Lagos, in the south-west.

The Nigerian government has culled about half a million birds and shut down some affected farms as part of efforts to contain the disease.

Last week, the government paid a compensation of 1.7 million naira (about US$13,000) to poultry farmers that lost birds to the disease in Katsina.

No human case of the virus has so far been recorded in Nigeria.

Four other African countries - Niger, Cameroon, Egypt and Burkina Faso have also reported the avian flu.

Viewpoint

2006-04-19T18:59:00.000+01:00

by Magnus Onyibe

WHEN Egypt and Israel sat down together in 1978 to negotiate peace, their positions were incompatible. Israel insisted on keeping some parts of the Sinai. Egypt, on the other hand, insisted that every inch of the Sinai be returned to Egyptian sovereignty.

First instance focus should be shifted toward securing commitment for the provision of infrastructural development and improvement in the living standards of the Niger-Delta people which is the primary objective of the struggle. The Federal Government on its part cannot continue to ignore an agitation which has resulted in loss of about $1billion in revenue to it in less than two months. So, in the interest of the economy, an agreement can be reached through a third party such as the United Nations which can guarantee that the release of the hostages will usher infrastructural development, not only through the efforts of the Federal Government but also through a global initiative such as a donors conference since oil and gas of which Niger Delta is a veritable source, is a global commodity.

A UN-endorsed donors' conference is not a novelty as a similar measure was taken on behalf of Afghanistan and Iraq to promote stability in the region, which became volatile in the wake of a United States- led war against terrorism. If the world could get together to raise funds for Afghanistan and Iraq, there is no reason such a gesture should not be extended to the Niger Delta which is equally a part and parcel of the gulf of Guinea, one of the world's strategic source of fossil fuel. Expectedly, the subsequent massive infusion of investment funds into the Niger Delta by donor agencies would far outstrip the $1.5 billion currently being demanded by the hostage-takers as compensation.

And with the anger of the Ijaws assuaged by the proposed provision of social amenities in the Niger Delta and a say in the management of oil and gas resource from their land (increase in derivation funds already being considered in the on-going constitutional amendments), charges on Asari Dokubo may be dropped as the raison d'etre for his struggle would be rendered obselete (and he would pose no further threat to government). Similarly, Alamieyeseigha's incarceration could receive a political solution which is not a new approach in conflict resolution in our growing but fragile democracy as exemplified by the case of Salisu Buhari, the ex-speaker of the Federal House of Representatives who was convicted for certificate forgery and impeached but soon after pardoned. There are also the benevolent Supreme Court judgment on the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy and the brotherly settlement of the World Court judgement on Nigeria/Cameroun dispute over the Bakassi Peninsula.

Now back to the youths with shovels and axes digging up tunnels for distribution of fibre optic cables across the country introduced in the opening paragraph. The belief in some quarters is that by engaging the unskilled youths in that task, highway robbery on that axis has reduced drastically because the hitherto idle able-boded men who could have been lured into crime are now constructively and productively engaged in the telecommunications revolution.

This dovetails into the belief of a school of thought that if the Federal Government should embark on the construction of a highway from Lagos through Ondo, Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states, then through Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River as well as Abia states, like the telecom tunnel diggers, Niger Delta youths would be gainfully employed for the period of the construction, which clearly will spread into a rolling plan of at least ten-year period.

Just like the railway opened up Europe, construction of a highway in the Niger-Delta region could easily be the most critical purveyor of development in this treasure trove of the world that is home to a people suffering abject, indeed overt, negligence from a world that has forsaken them.

Mr. Onyibe is Commissioner for Special Duties in Delta State.

Oil Prices Rising

2006-04-19T18:58:00.000+01:00

Oil prices settled at a high above $71 a barrel yesterday as supply threats around the world overshadowed a report from OPEC that predicted weakening global demand.

There was no fresh catalyst for the day's rise, but analysts said market psychology would likely remain bullish until there is some resolution to a variety of geopolitical uncertainties, particularly the West's nuclear dispute with Iran and output disruptions in Nigeria.

Prices have jumped $10 in less than a month to higher than the record set after Hurricane Katrina shut refineries, pipelines and offshore production.

"If we were to lose Iran's exports of around two million barrels a day, there's no way we can make up the loss," said Frank Verrastro, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies energy program in Washington. "There is no spare capacity, so consumers don't want to use their stockpiles."

Global Insight oil analyst Kevin Lindemer said the slowing consumption growth and swelling inventories of crude oil in the United States would typically help pull down prices, but "all of that is getting swamped right now by Iran and Nigeria."

Verrastro estimated that oil production was down by one million barrels a day because of the problems in Nigeria and remaining damage along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Katrina.

Light, sweet crude oil for May delivery rose 95 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $71.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil touched $71.60, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983. Prices are 42 percent higher than a year ago.

With gasoline prices averaging $2.79 a gallon, U.S. motorists are shelling out $212 million a day more than a year ago. President Bush said yesterday that he was "concerned" about the effect this was having on American families and small businesses.

Many economists say they believe the effect of $70-a-barrel oil on the country's financial engine will not be as drastic as it was after Hurricane Katrina. That argument is that consumers have gotten accustomed to prices at today's levels.

James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading in Tampa, Fla., predicted gasoline prices could rise as high as $3.50 a gallon in some parts of the country this summer.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries yesterday revised its 2006 demand-growth forecast to 1.42 million barrels a day from 1.46 million barrels a day in the previous report. The cartel estimates that global crude-oil demand will be slightly above 84.5 million barrels a day - about half a million barrels a day lower than the current Wall Street consensus.

OPEC expressed particular concern about the effect that rising interest rates would have on consumer spending in the United States, where gasoline demand grew at a slower rate in the first quarter and could "carry over into the second half of the year."

With global crude-oil production only barely keeping up with demand, leaving a slim margin for error if there is a prolonged supply interruption, experts say prices are likely to climb further.

Personal Note

2006-04-05T20:01:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed postings have become more sporadic in the past two weeks. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1) The bad news from the Niger Delta has decreased somewhat, a phenomenon that began before the national census and, as far as I can tell, continues. 2) I have been nursing some back ache. I am better now.

Over the next two weeks, I will be driving down to the US Gulf Coast, visiting Louisiana and Texas. Hopefully the political and socio-economic climate in Nigeria will remain relatively normal while I am away, but if something important comes up, I will compose a post.

Government Meets with Delta Representatives

2006-04-05T19:57:00.000+01:00

Oronto Douglas, Mediator for the Movement for the Emancipation of Nigeria Delta (MEND), yesterday stressed that only a government team with a clear mandate can dialogue with Niger Delta representatives.

He spoke ahead of today’s meeting between President Olusegun Obasanjo and representatives of the region, which several of them have threatened to boycott.

Douglas, in a report presented to reporters in Abuja, advised that prior to the dialogue the government should begin the immediate implementation of the recommendations made by the Special Security Committee on Oil Producing Areas, led by Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Alexander Ogomudia.

The committee was inaugurated on November 8, 2001, and in its report submitted on February 19, 2002, recommended, among others, an upward review of the minimum 13 per cent derivation to not less than 50 per cent, training of Niger Delta indigenes for employment in oil companies, provision of infrastructure such as electricity, water roads, repeal of the Land Use Act and the Petroleum Act.

Douglas lamented that apart from memoranda to government committees and agencies, there are about eight proclamations by peoples of the Niger Delta on claims of ownership, resource access and control, environment justice and true federalism.

For the restoration of lasting peace in the area, he recommended, among others, “the setting up of a dialogue team with an undiluted mandate to discuss with representatives of the Niger Delta by the Federal Government; an urgent meeting of nationalities of the Niger Delta to nominate credible persons not more than three per nationality to a central Niger Delta Dialogue Team to meet with the Federal Government team.

“A strong political will at the federal level to bring into fruition the dream of a greater Niger Delta that is peaceful, prosperous and pleasant to its inhabitants and dependants; and the federal government should invite as observers representatives of the international community, labour and human rights community to the dialogue”.

Some Ijaw leaders have restated their resolve to stay away from the meeting today.

However, pressure has continued on Edwin Clark to attend.

A communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of Ijaw Interactive Assembly held at his country home in Kiagbodo on Sunday said the Ijaw would not participate in the meeting as presently constituted.

The communiqué was signed by Clark and Kimse Okoko, President of Ijaw National Congress.

It urged the government to seek a more meaningful approach to the resolution of the conflict by engaging the Ijaw in a dialogue to address the decades of denial, neglect and abandonment.

But it was learnt that less than 24 hours after the Kiagbodo meeting, Bayelsa State Governor, Goodluck Jonathan, and his executive council visited Clark and appealed to him to attend the meeting in Abuja.

Jonathan urged him to see the reason with the government on the need to hold the meeting, but Clark was said to have declared that there is no going back on the stand taken by the Ijaw.

After the departure of Jonathan, the Presidency sent an invitation to Clark and the logistics for his ticket to the meeting.

Clark confirmed on Tuesday that he is under severe pressure to attend the meeting but that he would not budge.

The proposed talks had raised hopes that the government and Ijaw militants were moving towards a negotiated truce that could allow oil multinationals to restart 630,000 barrels per day of output closed by violence in the swamps.

"The problems of the Ijaw can never and will never be solved at the jamboree”, said Clark in a statement.

He was among a small group of Ijaw leaders who handed three foreign oil worker hostages to the government last week after five weeks in captivity.

His criticism of the proposed meeting was echoed by other delta groups.

"We know that with the size of the meeting ... no meaningful discussion is possible within just one day," said Ledum Mitee of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People.

"If there is to be a stakeholders’ meeting it should allow adequate time and structure for views to be expressed and there should be evidence of a willingness to act on any presentations”.

Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, added that what the people want to see is a practical development and interventionist efforts from the federal authorities.

He described the problems of the region as well known to everybody and said there are no new demands to make at such a meeting but to ask that the people of the region be made to feel the impact of development from the resources taken from their soil.

He spoke on Tuesday at a stakeholders’ meeting attended by traditional rulers in Port Harcourt where he expressed outrage at the “continued arrogance of those who contribute nothing to the national purse”.

$66 Oil

2006-04-05T19:56:00.000+01:00

Oil climbed back above $66 a barrel on Wednesday as the difficulty of restoring Nigerian output shut in by militant unrest and concerns offset the impact of rising U.S. crude inventories.

U.S. light sweet crude oil futures for May delivery rose two cents to $66.22 a barrel, while London Brent crude rose 17 cents to $66.56 by 8:23 EDT.

Prices recovered from a sell-off on Tuesday after news a meeting between the Nigeria government and groups from the oil-producing delta was unlikely to achieve anything because key players from the militant side would be absent.

"We dissociate ourselves from the Abuja jamboree ... which is a waste of time and resources," said activist group Ijaw Youth Leaders Forum in a statement.

Supplies from Nigeria, the world's eighth biggest oil exporter, have been cut by more than 500,000 barrels per day for almost two months because of militant attacks.

Industry sources said on Wednesday, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and other companies had no plans to return their staff to abandoned oilfields in Nigeria's southern delta until there was a truce with militants.

But Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru said he expected production to be restored on Thursday at Shell's EA oilfield, which normally pumps about 115,000 bpd.

Although oil markets are generally well-supplied, worries about Nigeria and fellow-OPEC producer Iran, which is embroiled in a dispute with the west over its nuclear program, have prevented prices from falling far.

"It's a fight between oversupply in the market, building inventories and geopolitical risks," said Michael Lewis, global head of commodity research at Deutsche Bank.

According to a Reuters survey of analysts, weekly inventory data to be released on Wednesday will show a 1.1 million-barrel increase in crude oil stocks, which touched a seven-year high a month ago.

But gasoline and distillate stocks were both expected to have fallen by 1.6 million barrels last week.

Daukoru, who is also OPEC president, said gasoline supplies could be tightened by refining bottlenecks, especially as peak U.S. driving season approaches.

"OPEC can supply more if more OPEC oil is called for," Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's oil minister, told reporters on the sidelines of an African energy conference in Algiers.

"But if the downstream cannot process what we place on the market, it is useless to ask OPEC to produce more."