Nigeria Security Update #1 310707

Pakistani Construction Manager Kidnapped (VOA)

Seven gunmen abducted a Pakistani construction manager in southern Nigeria on Tuesday and demanded a ransom, a local rights activist said citing sources at the man's company and witnesses.

The attack takes to at least 12 the number of foreigners being held hostage by armed groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where crime and militancy have surged since early 2006.

The gunmen, dressed in red, arrived by boat at a road construction site run by Italian firm Gitto near Bodo community in the Ogoni area of Rivers state, said Patrick Naagbanton, coordinator of the local Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development.

Bodo has been plagued by deadly fights between two rival "cults" or youth gangs and the gunmen's red clothes suggested they may be members of Deebam, one of the cults.

"They held everyone at gunpoint before seizing the Pakistani manager and taking him away by boat," Naagbanton said by telephone from Rivers.

The abducted man was in charge of dredging for Gitto's road project, which is financed by the federal government. The road will cross several creeks and rivers.

Contacts at Gitto said the kidnappers called demanding a ransom but they did not disclose the amount, Naagbanton said.

Militants who criticised the neglect of the impoverished delta and demanded local control over oil revenues launched a violent campaign against the oil industry in early 2006.

They have forced the closure of several oilfields and oil output from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, is down by about a fifth.

But violence has spiralled out of control with numerous criminal gangs using the militancy as a cover to carry out abductions for ransom and armed robberies.

Over 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of last year and almost all have been freed in exchange for money.

Chronology of Recent Abductions

Below is a chronology of some major attacks and kidnappings involving the Nigerian oil industry since President Umaru Yar'Adua was sworn in on May 29.

• June 3 - Gunmen kidnap six staff of United Company RUSAL, the Russian aluminium giant, in Ikot Abasi in the southeast. The men were working at the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.

• June 15 - Gunmen kidnap two Lebanese men, working for Italian firm Stabilini, near Ogara in Delta state.
  
• June 16 - Militants release 10 Indian hostages held since June 1. The hostages included at least three senior executives of Indonesian petrochemical company Indorama.
  
• June 23 - Four hostages, from Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan, employed by oil services giant Schlumberger are released unharmed. The men were abducted on June 1 from Port Harcourt.
• June 25 - Two Indian construction workers, kidnapped near Sapele in Delta State on June 15, are freed.
  
• July 4 - Armed men attack a Shell facility at Soku and abduct five expatriates, two from New Zealand, one Australian, one Venezuelan and one from Lebanon. They are released on July 11.
  
• July 5 - A 3-year-old British child, Margaret Hill, is abducted in Port Harcourt. She is released on July 8.
  
• July 7 - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said one of its teams had been attacked in Rivers state in the delta and two Nigerian workers taken hostage. The Nigerians are released on July 11.
  
• July 8 - A Briton was among two foreign workers kidnapped from a production barge near Calabar in Cross River state.
  
• July 12 - Francis Samuel Amadi, the 3-year-old son of a traditional ruler in the community of Iriebe, is kidnapped near Port Harcourt. He is released the next day.
  
• July 31 - A Pakaistani man, a manager in charge of dredging on a construction site run by Italian firm Gitto, is kidnapped near Bodo community in the Ogoni area of Rivers state.

Predicted Peace May Make Oil Flow Again (Reuters)

Nigeria's new government and militant groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta are moving towards talks that could restore lost output from the world's eighth-largest oil exporter.

An 18-month campaign of guerrilla attacks on Western oil facilities has prompted thousands of foreigners to leave Africa's top producer, reduced output by a fifth and helped oil prices rise to record highs.

But since taking office two months ago, President Umaru Yar'Adua has moved swiftly to engage the militants. He has met two of their demands by freeing two jailed leaders of the Ijaw ethnic group, the most populous in the Niger Delta.

In response, 25 armed groups have joined into a united front for talks with the government. The two sides are now working on preconditions for formal talks to address militant demands for more regional control over the delta's oil.

"I am very optimistic. The militias are ready to cease fire and give negotiations a chance," said Dimieari Von Kemedi, an Ijaw activist involved in the talks.

A truce called by several armed groups has held since Yar'Adua's inauguration on May 29. However, a crime wave continues to sweep the delta's largest city of Port Harcourt, posing a threat to the peace drive, he added.

Armed groups protesting against neglect and poverty in the vast wetlands region have stepped up violence against oil workers and industry facilities since the 1990s.

But the line between militancy and crime is blurred and dozens of criminal gangs use militant rhetoric as a cover to kidnap foreigners for ransom or steal oil from pipelines.

BLIP?

Security consultants working for international oil companies are split over the significance of the peace moves. Some see them as a temporary respite in a long-term decline in the vast region of swamps and mangrove-lined creeks.

"Though violence has eased in the last few weeks, the perception of companies is still negative," said one security consultant working for Western multinationals.

"Companies see a long-term deterioration in security. It may not be linear, but each cycle of violence is worse than before," added the consultant, who is not allowed to talk to the media.

There are still good reasons to be worried.

One powerful militant who leads a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has so far refused to take part. His fighters have been responsible for some of the fiercest attacks over the past 18 months.

"The government is attempting to resolve the unrest in the delta through selective appeasement. This will secure a cease fire but how long this 'peace' will last, I cannot tell," said the leader, who uses the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo, in an e-mail.

"They will attempt to stall and pacify dissenting voices financially. Let's watch and see where things go. We will attack without further warning if there is a need to," he said, adding that he saw no prospect of better use of resources in the delta.

Despite these concerns, some projects and investments that had been on hold because of a surge in attacks in the first half of the year are now going ahead.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has moved some workers back to its western delta oilfields, where 500,000 barrels per day has been shut since they were evacuated in February 2006.

It has resumed pumping 36,000 barrels per day from one oilfield and two tankers are expected to load from the Forcados terminal in August, the first shipments in 18 months.

U.S. oil giant Chevron has lifted a ban imposed in May on non-essential staff in offshore operations, industry sources say. And construction workers have begun setting up work sites to start building a new $1.8 billion highway across the delta, which had previously been frozen by security concerns.

Nigerian Army Retires 40 Top Officers (AP)

The Nigerian Defense Ministry has asked 40 top army officials to retire, a Nigerian defense spokesman said on Tuesday, two months after the country swore in a new president.

"There's no big deal about it. It's a continuous process," said Col. Mohammed Yusuf, who said the process was routine.

He said that under new Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, the armed forces would be sticking strictly to rules that said members must retire at the age of 60, or after 35 years of service.

"They will now try to follow the process very properly, like it did not happen before. Once it is time, there is nothing you can do," he said.

Yusuf said the retirements had no political motive.

"There is nothing like mass retirement," he said, pointing out that classes of officers often graduate over 100 at a time.

He refused, citing national security concerns, to say how many generals were in the Nigerian armed forces or how many generals were among the 40 top officers being retired.

Nigeria has undergone several tumultuous decades of military rule and seven coups since wresting independence from Britain in 1960, but last April's elections that marked the country's first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power.

The elections were widely condemned as rigged by domestic and international observers, but some Nigerians were simply grateful that there was a peaceful transfer of power at all. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had also previously been a military ruler of the country in 1975. He returned to power in 1999 on the back of a popular vote and also proceeded to retire a number of generals shortly afterward.

Most Nigerians do not believe that a coup is currently likely.

Before he promoted current President Yar'Adua as his protege, several of Obasanjo's supporters tried to force through a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run for a third term.

Although the country receives tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues annually and is rated as one of the most corrupt in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International.

Bank Manager, 3 More Killed By Armed Robbers in Lagos (Daily Champion)

ONITSHA branch manager of a second generation bank (name withheld), Nnamdi Obi and two policemen were killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen in separate incidents Sunday in Onitsha and Enugu, respectively.

Similarly, armed robbers yesterday stormed the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, (MMIA), Lagos, leaving an unidentified man dead, and several others wounded after their operation.

Daily Champion gathered that Obi who hailed from Nawfia in Njikoka local government area of Anambra State, was shot dead inside his car near the abattoir in Onitsha where he had accompanied his wife to.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Anambra command, Mr Felix Agbo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) confirmed the killing.

He told our correspondent on telephone that investigation was on-going to unmask the killers.

Other gang of armed robbers Sunday night shot and killed two policemen in what appeared to be a planned attack on a police check point along Ogui Road, Enugu and about a 100metres from the police station on the same road.

The hoodlums also snatched the service rifles of the slain cops after, as eyewitnesses recounted, hurling abuse on and kicking their corpses.

The police check point had been mounted near two popular fast food shops and restaurants that are the favourite haunts of Enugu's rich and famous and had been targets of armed robbery attacks in the past.

The permanent police presence there had helped to keep the hoodlums at bay. The weekend's attack on the check point is widely viewed as an act of vengeance by the criminals against the men who had prevented them from operating freely in the area.

Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred at about 8.30 pm when the robbers who were travelling in a flashy car whose make could not be ascertained suddenly opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen as they approached their checkpoint. The hoodlums were said to have climbed down from their cars and after molesting the corpses of the cops, took their service firearms.

"It all happened in a flash, we suddenly heard gunshots and the next thing we saw were some people climbing down from a car and rushing at the policemen who were already lying on the ground. They kicked at the bodies and shouted insults at them before taking their guns and escaping in the car", said one witness, who pleaded anonymity.

Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Mike Abattam, who confirmed the incident, said the bodies of the two dead cops had been recovered, adding that a massive man-hunt for the hoodlums had commenced.

"We have alerted all units to hunt down those hoodlums and I can assure you, we will get them in no distant time. They cannot escape", he said.

The hoodlums are also suspected to have been behind several robbery incidents in different parts of the city on Sunday night shortly after the attack on the policemen.

It also came barely a week after robbers killed a policeman and wounded another in a failed attempt to rob a bank at Nsukka.

Daily Champion learnt that the robbers, who started their operation at about 2am, tied up the six security operatives on duty and the three plain clothed caps seizing the gun of one of the victims.

According to some of the workers the alleged mad man was also shot dead on the spot. It is not the bureau de change office when he accosted the armed robbers.

What the rampaging hoodlums carted away, extensive damage to most of the offices and the vehicles that were parked there.

The chairman of the bureau de change, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, who spoke with Daily Champion confirmed the incident and stated that there have been strict orders to everyone at the bureau de change not to keep money overnight.

"We have a very strict order that nobody should keep his money overnight in the compound, so that order has been very helpful; because nobody kept money and the robbers did not find any money in the safe that were forced open," he said.

According to him, three safes opened and almost all the offices in the bureau de change were broken into by the bandits who went on a rampage riddling bullets on vehicles and windows when they found nothing to steal.

Airport Command police authority are yet to comment on the incident not reacted to it.

It is recalled that a similar incident took place early in January at the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) where over N120 million was carted away and the suspects not been captured.

Unlike Sunday afternoon's robbery in Isolo, Lagos where the robbers allegedly trailed the bullion vans, yesterday's robbery in Lagos witnessed the raiding of some bureau de change offices at MMIA.

A police officer's rifle was allegedly snatched during the operation.

Nigeria Security Update #1 300707

Armed Robbery Suspects Gunned Down (The Tide)

The police in Rivers State have killed three suspected armed robbers during an exchange of fire along Rumuigbo Road, old GRA, Port Harcourt.

The men of the underworld met their waterloo when the police getting information that a gang of armed robbers are operating in the area and they immediately swoop into action.

A source said that as the police Anti-crime Patrol team was mobilized to the scene, the robbers on sighting them, opened fire and in the process exchange of fire ensued.

It was learnt that during the exchange of fire, the three armed robber suspects were gunned down and others took to their heels and escaped.

The source further said the police have intensified efforts to track down the fleeing suspects and bring them to face the full wrath of the law.

The police public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Ireju Barasua, a Deputy Superintendent of police (DSP) who confirmed the incident however called on the public to always assist the police with timely information on criminal activities, as to enable the police move into action.

Another Missing Ship (Nigerian Tribune)

CURIOUSLY, it seems that Nigeria’s reputation for the proliferation of absurdities is on a steady rise. Now, it is commonplace for ships arrested for one crime or the other to literally disappear from the custody of those keeping them as if they were some small items that could be pilfered by a common pickpocket!

ABOUT two months ago, two ships, MT Balle and MT Alruhula, were used to transport crude oil that was fraudulently obtained. The officers and crew of the ships were arrested by some “overzealous” naval men in the Calabar area and the ships were steered to Port Harcourt. The ships were then officially delivered to the officers of the NNS Pathfinder at their base in Port Harcourt.

BUT rather than moor the ships, the officers of the Pathfinder found a path for the ships to escape and the naval authorities tried to cover up the scandal until a group called Nigerian Youths for Good Governance made allegations against the Nigerian Navy establishment and when the press asked the Navy to react to these allegations, they issued a statement on the matter.

ITS Director of Information, Captain Obiora Medani, said it was true as stated by the Nigerian Youths for Good Governance that two ships detained at the Port Harcourt base had disappeared but that the naval authorities had not tried to conceal the matter and that a board of inquiry headed by a Captain Bimbo Ayuba would determine if the crude found on the ships was illegally obtained and whether the NNS Kyanwa had a good reason to arrest the two ships.

IT is pertinent to recall that many high ranking naval officers were retired following the disappearance of MT African Pride because, according to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye, the officers had criminal connection with crude oil. As we asked in our Editorial of June 28, 2007, from where the foregoing is copiously quoted, “Is retirement a retribution for these Mephistophelian atrocities? Is retirement alone enough deterrent to others who might have discovered a greater reward in this criminality than in continued stay in service?”

CAPTAIN Medani, however, after our editorial on the Navy and the missing ships, had made allegations in the newspapers about a smear campaign in the media being sponsored by certain ex-naval officers who had been compulsorily retired from the Nigerian Navy and their relations trying to impugn the integrity of the Chief of Naval Staff and discredit the Board of Inquiry. Captain Medani even called the Nigerian Youths for Good Governance a fictitious group.

HOWEVER, hardly had he finished writing when another ship, an impounded Greek vessel, MT Tritya, escaped, this time, with three security officials detailed to secure it. This was disclosed at a press conference by the legal consultants to the shipping agents. The ship, according to the legal consultants, was legally detained as a pre-judgment security for the satisfaction of the civil claims of the shipping agents until an acceptable security by way of bank guarantee had been furnished by her owners. The ship had been impounded through an injunction obtained from the Federal High Court in Lagos against the vessel and three others claiming certain amounts of money until the final payment for short delivery of the cargo of gas and oil.

WE are worried by the regular disappearances of vessels from Nigeria, especially vessels detained over one offence or the other. We think that their escape in the various circumstances had been facilitated by bribed hands. The latest ‘disappearance’ is even curioser, as the security officers who were supposed to secure it ‘disappeared’ with the vessel. Were they abducted by the criminals who steered the vessel away under the cover of night? Or did they too connive with the criminals to get out of the country to seek for greener pasture elsewhere? The three security officers who reappeared some days after claimed they were abducted and brutalised by their captors before being released on the high sea. This claim needs to be investigated too by the authorities.

DISAPPEARANCE of vessels with ease speaks volumes about the security of the country’s territorial waters and this is where the Navy is implicated. If ships under its observation can ‘disappear’ without any trace and officers who had been found guilty had only been retired, how much easier will it be for other ships bound only by legal constraints from the courts to escape too?

THE ‘disappearance’ of MT Tritya should be properly investigated using all diplomatic leads and those found to be guilty should be appropriately punished by the relevant authorities. The Navy too should do better than whine about a smear campaign when in reality ships are disappearing, like small items that can easily be contained in someone’s pocket. It is plainly absurd that in the Nigerian state, ships can easily slide into the waters when the pockets of some felons bulge with ill-gotten wealth.

Report from the Creeks (Vanguard)

PASTOR Ayo Oritsejafor is the general overseer of Warri-based Word of Life Bible Church and the national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN who recently initiated a spiritual solution to the protracted Niger Delta crisis. After several weeks of evangelical mission to Europe and America, he recently granted Sunday Vanguard, an interview during which he x-rayed the state of the nation, and the Niger Delta. Excerpts

THE Yar'Adua government started with an industrial action. We just want you to look at the state of the nation.

I have a feeling that I always seem to talk differently from everybody else. I don't like talking because that's what is popular or that's what everyone likes to hear; because there are certain things people want you to say.

For me, I will say, first, thank God that we came through the elections and we are still a nation together. I say thank God because there were some things some of us won't want to say publicly. Before the elections, there were spiritual indications which I never said anything to you about, that the problem was not just going to be the elections but immediately after the elections and so some of us had to set certain things in motion.

I don't want to go into all the details. We needed to get people to do certain things - to pray us through and so that's why I said, number one, thank God that we came through the elections and we are still and will continue to remain a nation. The second thing is, in my own opinion, some of the things that have happened like the industrial action, for example, it was rather unfortunate. I think first of all that there were problems on both sides.

I am going to be economical with words because it has come and gone. I don't think at this point, I should be the one stirring up anything, talking this way or talking that way but, like I said, it was a very unfortunate thing that happened when it happened at that point in time. But thank God again it has come and gone.

I believe also that the Yar'Adua's government is beginning to find its feet. It's not going to be easy because in my own opinion, he is stepping into very big shoes, big Nigeria and big Obasanjo that has just left. So, it's going to take a while for him to stabilise and be able to bring out his own style of doing things.

I will appeal to the media to help him and give him a chance. Sometimes, some of the things I read are so troubling. Oh Obasanjo is influencing you, and so on. They should just leave this man and let him find his feet. Let him know what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. Give him a break.

The media is only mirroring the mood of the nation. Everybody seems to think that the past president has an overbearing influencing on every decision taken by Yar'Adua...

Is there any proof of that?

Well, for instance, he has taken over the PDP Board of Trustees?

Are you a PDP member? (Laughs). Again, you see, these are some of the troubling things. You are not a member of PDP, I am not a member of PDP. Let's leave PDP to sort themselves out. I've heard people say Yar'Adua is not the president of PDP, he's the president of Nigeria. I hail that.

That is true. He stood for election as a PDP candidate but now he's the president of Nigeria. So let's concern ourselves more with what the government does for Nigeria. Let's downplay this issue of PDP Board or no Board and all that stuff.

I think we are over flogging that issue. To me, it's too much,

let's concentrate more on the government and Nigeria. We want to move forward. There are other parties. I don't want to get a PDP membership card. I'm not a member and I don't want to be a member, I don't think you want to. If they want somebody from the moon to be their chairman, that's their problem, that's not mine.

The day I become a member then I can tell them, I don't like it. But to say that Obasanjo has hand in Yar'Adua's government, to me again, is speculation. It is true that Obasanjo was very much instrumental in bringing him in, we won't run away from that. That's the truth! It's there, it's obvious, but that doesn't make him a man that doesn't know what he wants in life. I mean, when you look at him, the man is 56 years old for God's sake, he's not a child. How did he get to where he is?

Was it Obasanjo that held his arm and took him to school through university? Was it Obasanjo that governed Katsina State for him? I think we should give the man a break. A lot of most of the things we are seeing is speculation and I will tell you why there's so much speculation. Part of it is because there are certain persons who know what people want to hear. I keep repeating that, and they blow up these and you people make them movie stars because they know what you want to hear too.

So, they open their months wide and you put all these things on your front pages and then the next person you go to says his own too and you put his own there. The president and his predecessor should be friends, they shouldn't be enemies! For one thing they belong to the same party, one was instrumental to bringing in the other, and secondly Yar'Adua naturally should consult with him in the sense of you've been in this thing, how did you do it? What happened here, what happened there? These are normal things. So, to me, let them allow this man settle down and do his job.

As part of his settling down, he called for a government of national unity. Are you in support of that?

One hundred per cent! I think it's a very good thing. I think it's a good thing because, first of all, Nigeria is more important than me as a person. Nigeria is more important than Yar'Adua. Nigeria is more important than any individual person. Nigeria is more important than any political party. We all know that we had serious problems during the elections. It's a fact, you can't run away from it. The reality is that there were a lot ofirregularities from all parties. If I may say, some did it more than others, but they all did it.

Let's not pretend about it because that's a fact. I met someone who ran for an office in a certain state and somehow it didn't work out and he was trying to tell me how they did this. So, I sat him down and started telling him how his own people did this and that too. I said we at the grassroots know what happened.

So the truth is that, everybody had a part to play in whatever had happened before. So, looking at where we are coming from, when you think of all the things that happened, yes, some people have been declared winners at the presidential and the state levels.

To find a way to keep Nigeria one, I think it's a very wise thing to reach out to other parties and say alright, come and contribute your part to this. For example, you see that in Obasanjo government, whether we want to give him credit for it or not, some of the people he appointed did very well, some didn't.

Incidentally mostly the women did very well. But if you want to look at it, you should say, Obasanjo did very well as far as those people are concerned. But my point is, some of those people were not even party people initially, but eventually they had to become. But they were not at all. Some were actually from other parties.

Could you imagine if some of those people were not given the opportunity to serve, we will never be talking about them today. That's one. Two, they would never have achieved the things they achieved, not for themselves but for all of us, for Nigeria. The reason they were able to achieve those things was because they were brought in and given that opportunity.

I think the idea is, some of these other parties may have credible people who can come into government, who can also add to this nation, to Nigeria. Because all we want is power supply, good roads, water and food. These are the things we want.

The Niger Delta question and power will be his cardinal programmes. He has spent two months and not even one word yet in that direction...

Is it really that not one word yet? I wouldn't say not one word yet. Again like I've always told you I think nobody will say now that I love Yar'Adua so much. I don't even know the man. Take the Niger Delta for example, I know that they have inaugurated a committee that is supposed to look at the security situation in the area. That is very important because most of the people in that committee know what is on ground.

If you go to Delta State, you'll see that the same thing is on ground now. There is a committee set up by the governor, a waterway security committee and the people in that committee know what is on ground. Now, that is very important. If you are going to solve the Niger Delta problem, you must involve the people who know what is on ground. They've done that. For example, again, NDDC, I initiated something, the week long prayers for peace which was concluded recently.

I actually initiated it through the past president. I think that is very important because one of the mistakes they've always made, when they call the so-called stakeholders in the Niger Delta, they never involve the Church. And it puzzles me, it has always puzzled me why they don't bring in the Church.

I went with the vice president and the Delta State governor, Dr. Uduaghan, to the creeks. I was shocked the way I was received! I was surprised by some of the leaders of the town and the young people. Before the vice president arrived, because some of us went ahead of him, they took me into a big room and gave me a special welcome separately. You know the way we entertain visitors. They brought out money, put money on the table, everything, received me.

I couldn't believe myself. They started singing songs with my name, but I'm a pastor. As I stepped into the place, they were shouting Papa. I couldn't believe myself. I said this is unbelievable. In this kind of place? So, it's a mistake not to have involved the Church all along, because we have something at stake. The Niger Delta, basically, is supposed to be a Christian part of this country.

That is the truth. Let's be honest with ourselves. There are no genuine Muslims anywhere in the Niger Delta. They are not there. Everybody you see there, if they want to be honest with you are Christians, one way or the other. They may not be very committed but that's who they are. Now, if they are Christians, they were baptised in a church probably. Their mothers took them to a church; their fathers took them to a church.

Organizing of prayers

They have gone to a church and I am a pastor. There are still some credible pastors that you can still involve. Like I said to NDDC and I hope we can get this across also to the government and those in charge, not only are we organising prayers, which is very important but we want to be involved further.

We want to be involved in negotiations in the sense of, you see, some of these boys don't trust a lot of government officials but there are people they believe are credible. It's possible they may think some of us are also credible. We can become the bridge, we can say to these boys, we have talked to government, let's give them one year - no fighting, no cheating, no nothing, put your arms down, let them do something.

If they don't, then nobody can blame you. And then we say to government, you see, we have put our neck on the line, my credibility is on the line, now perform. If they don't perform, we'll come out publicly to condemn them. I don't need money from government. I don't need anything. I say it everywhere, every time, I don't need it. No governor has given me one naira before, it doesn't happen because I don't want it. I don't need it. If they don't perform, we will come out and shout. And when we start talking, people will listen because they know we are not politicians.

So they need to involve us more.

For example, the master plan, a plan is just a plan until you can implement it, but how do you implement it? So, we want to be involved to help, so that this plan can be implemented. And in implementing it, there has to be dialogue and this dialogue has to involve the church. A lot of the institutions in this country have been bastadized, many don't have credibility and I don't want to start mentioning them.

But I think to an extent, there are still people in the Church leadership that have credibility that can say this is it and they will stick to it. And we know that if we say something and we don't do what we say then we're in trouble because we have nothing to preach to anybody. My members can walk out of the church because truth, justice, equity, all these things are directly, not indirectly, related to what we do. It's a direct thing. So if I don't stick to what I say, it goes completely against everything that am saying. So I have no platform.

What practical solution do you expect from the prayer sessions?

First of all, everything physical derives from the spiritual and so prayer is very important because there's no way you'll want to achieve peace without calling on the prince of peace. God is the owner of peace. There is a spirituality that goes with peace. When you call upon Him and you do it right, God can enter into the hearts of men. Two people who disagreed before suddenly can begin to agree.

You remember in the Bible, Jacob was coming from his uncle's place and he was told that Esau was coming with 400 men angry because of what Jacob did to him. And Jacob had an encounter, in other words, he had an all-night prayer meeting. In the morning, when Esau saw him, instead of killing him, Esau embraced him. So who created that peace? Was it Jacob? No, it was supernatural. So there is a supernatural aspect to the problem in the Niger Delta.

There are demonic forces that want to maintain the status quo because it is only in this kind of atmosphere that idol worship can thrive. Idol worship only thrives in confusion, in poverty, in this kind of situation. The moment development starts coming, believe you me, idol worship is gone.

Nobody will have time for that. And these spirits know this that's why they blind our people spiritually to make sure they can't understand this fact. If not, you sit down and think, our people had all these shrines, the white man came and colonised them with all these heavy shrines, used them as slaves and yet the juju couldn't do anything.

They can't even think, when these people came, some of our people were naked, they had to give you cloth to cover you and your juju was there, your juju liked you naked, running around in the forest. People are not thinking, with all these things you're serving, telling you bring blood, telling you to kill your brother, kill your fellow human being. You think that's a good thing? It certainly cannot be, but they are not thinking. So there are problems there and these spirits like it that way.

So we have to challenge this and the way to challenge it is spiritually. You can't challenge spiritual things with physical things. So what we have brought into it now is the spiritual dimension so that the prayers that have been done now for this one week, and like I told them, you can't end with one week of prayers.

Nigeria Security Update #1 290707

Changing Tactics in the Niger Delta -- Analysis

Nigeria’s well endowed oil and gas basin, the Niger Delta, has been on the front burner of national and international discourse in recent years. The reason for this is not far-fetched.

For the country’s treasure trove, it has been a sordid tale of squalor, neglect and underdevelopment in the midst of wealth and plenty. Successive governments and the oil exploring multinational firms in the last five decades have only made half-hearted efforts to tackle the endemic and mind-boggling poverty in the region.

Courtesy of the Niger Delta, Nigeria today exports about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil per day; it is Africa’s biggest oil industry, the second largest exporter of oil to the United States, sixth oil producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the 10th among oil producing countries in the world.

But this statistics appear insignificant against the backdrop of recent anarchic developments in the region, which resulted in the country losing at least $13 billion monthly on oil exports, besides cutting oil production by a quarter. In the last 18 months or so, several armed groups have emerged to lay claim to greater control of the region’s resources and revenue. Oil platforms and installations have often been attacked and destroyed by such groups, whose members usually abduct foreigners to draw attention to their demands.

Other criminal-minded groups have also joined the kidnapping fray. These insurgents have extended their nefarious acts beyond abduction of only foreigners to women and toddlers and in return demand huge ransom before the hostages are set free. At the moment, it is difficult to say whether such acts have anything to do with the so-called political or liberation struggle in the impoverished region.

Several pundits believe past attempts by the government to address the problem have been tokenistic and aggravated rather than resolve the issues. From the days of the river basin authorities to the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) down to the subsisting Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the problem had always been that of poor funding coupled with corruption and the lack of political will.

The government had also tinkered with the idea of stakeholders and consultative fora as well as setting up of committees, with the latest being the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee that was established in June by the President Umaru Yar’Adua administration to chart a new way forward. Although the Senator David Brigidi-led committee is yet to show any discernible direction and focus, analysts are pessimistic whether it would be any different from past groupings, whose assignment came to naught at the end of the day. At least, it is foolhardy to continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result.

As stakeholders and the NDDC grapple with how to bring sustainable development to the region, the fact remains that the persistence of gross underdevelopment and the escalating violence are enough pointers that previous attempts at addressing the issue have been futile or have not given enough succour. To such pundits, there is need for a change of tactics on the part of government. The reasoning is that it is high time the Federal Government threw the Niger Delta challenge to private initiatives or policy institutions like the National Think-Tank, which had recently volunteered on its own to find answers to some of the lingering questions in the country, including the Niger Delta question.

National Think-Tank coordinator, Steve Azaiki, in a paper entitled: "Momentum for the Niger Delta", argues that there is no shortage of ideas on the way forward. According to him, there is a surfeit of proposals as various groups, individuals and stakeholders articulate their positions and proffer what they consider the appropriate template upon which to launch the region into a new and desirable era.

Some have even suggested a summit on the Niger Delta by the Federal Government. But the thinking among pundits is that such a forum organised by the government will be premature at this stage. The reason being that the government must move away from the habit of hurriedly getting on the driver’s seat without a dependable road map.

Even such a summit, by its conception, does not provide the best forum for brainstorming. How many days can a summit spare? A summit, more or less, is a rectifying forum where the final assent is given to a clean copy that was produced from all the hard labour of earlier negotiations, arguments and counter-arguments that had taken place usually before the summit.

However, the groundwork for a summit on the Niger Delta at this point ought to engage the attention of the National Think-Tank. Its membership, which is an amazing roll call of quality and diverse pool of talented Nigerians may never be readily available to a government-nominated committee that was charged with organising such a summit.

With the plethora of suggestions and multiplicity of stakeholders in the region, it only makes sense that a body like the National Think-Tank should distill and synthesise the various propositions, interact with stakeholders, research into the common denominators on the programme and projects to get the region on track. It should then be in position to present a working document; some invaluable intelligence will guide the preparation for the summit and implementation of the development of the agenda for the Niger Delta.

In Azaiki’s opinion, in rushing into a government-organised summit, especially on the Niger Delta, there is no way stakeholders will not raise as part of their demand the issues of resource control and fiscal federalism. But he says in granting such greater autonomy over resources and enthroning increased fiscal federalism are not matters of executive fiat.

These issues, he maintained, will have to be dealt with constitutionally. Besides, they are not matters that can be resolved in favour of the Niger Delta alone, as other constituent parts of the federation will, to a large extent, be affected by the decisions concerning such issues.

Other posers include: What is the best way to present or handle resources control and fiscal federalism issues at such a summit? What are the best ways of sensitising and winning over Niger Delta stakeholders, to realise the limitation of a summit or to pronounce authoritatively by way of a final solution on the vexed question of fiscal federalism? These and other salient matters are important for a think-tank to think through and present its recommendation on the best approach to maximise a summit on the Niger Delta.

But while the summit may engage in productively mapping out development strategies for the oil-producing region, it may find itself bogged down by the agitation for resource control, a situation that will command more headlines. Such scenario will send wrong signal and would heighten the propaganda that the Federal Government is unable to find answers to the needs of the peoples of the region. This may also lead to a fresh escalation of crisis in the creeks.

Azaiki, who is a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Bayelsa State, believes Nigeria should strive to get away from the practice where the government is always at the forefront of everything no matter how genuinely concerned it may be. This is because in its haste to get things done or to be seen to be concerned, government misses out on the benefits that a more rigorous situation analysis and recommended course of action would provide.

For a lasting solution to the problems of the Niger Delta, let other actors, including stakeholders, brainstorm. Let them own the ideas, let them lay on the table what they need and what they would cherish. It is at this point that government as the trustee of the nation can step in to give its official seal of approval on what it can do either in the present or in the future, taking into consideration the vital interest of the other component groups in the nation.


Speaker's 70-Year-Old Mother Still Held Hostage -- Analysis (Vanguard)

*Bayelsa in frantic search for abducted septuagenarian mother of speaker

‘I cried and watched my aged mother being lowered into the boat and it disappeared into the night'

THE kidnap on Tuesday night of Mrs. Hansel Seibarugu, the mother of the Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, in the sleepy riverine settlement of Akaibiri in the Ekpetiama clan of Yenagoa Local Government Area has again brought to the fore the anarchy in the troubled Niger Delta.

Armed groups initially operating in the oil fields of the Niger Delta, demanding a greater share of political rights and revenues for their polluted and impoverished region, resorted to kidnapping expatriates to draw attention to the blighted region and have burgeoned into several splinter bodies some of which have degenerated to money making machines. But the availability of arms as well as growth in the number of criminal gangs and the involvement of some powerful local politicians during last April elections has also helped to stoke this alien culture of violence in the once peaceful region.

For those not conversant with the beautiful but underdeveloped rural riverine settlement of Ekpetiama, one of the host communities to the multi billion naira Ubie Gas Gathering Project, being undertaking by oil major, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), it is a long stretch of marshy land on the bank of the Nun River that snakes through the state capital. It is an area that could be accessed both by land and river while most of the communities can only be reached by boat during this period of the year (flood season).

Interestingly, the natives, many of whom reside in the big cities across the country, love returning to their ancestral home to spend their vacation because of its serene and natural surroundings believed to be a soothing balm to the hassles associated with life in the city.

However, Tuesday night abduction of 70 year old Mrs Hansel, fondly called “Mama Yenagoa” has not only shattered this myth but has also brought to the fore the frightening dimension youth activism has assumed in the troubled oil rich Delta where armed gunmen now prey on toddlers and parents of public office holders for monetary gains. It is still not clear what led to the abduction of the septuagenarian woman whose only crime is giving birth to a son who turned out to be the speaker of the state House of Assembly. But an eyewitness, Mr. Tuanake Nimitei, told Sunday Vanguard, who visited the community shortly after the news of the kidnap filtered into Yenagoa, that some strange faces were noticed ostensibly on reconnaissance about four days before the victim was whisked away.

Wary of their movement, he claimed to have challenged one of the strangers who told him they were fuel dealers in search of potential market. The strangers, he added, turned out to be the invaders who whisked away the aged woman in their speedboats without any resistance from the villagers many of whom had travelled to a neighbouring community for a social function.

The younger sister of the speaker, identified as Powei Sam, who was with her aged mother when the gunmen struck, recalled with pain how she was kidnapped.

Sitting in front of their cream coloured apartment which stood out from other buildings in the community, the visibly lady, fighting tears from dropping from her swollen eyes, recounted how she and her mother were seated at her shop located by the bank of the Nun River when four boys walked up to them and requested to buy liquor ‘Chelsea’.

The mother, she noted, had made it a habit to spend her time at the shop as a form of exercise. “As I was about attending to them, two of the youths grabbed mama and immediately dashed to the water front where a speed boat occupied by two others was already steaming waiting for those that came for my mother,” she said, adding that her shout for help was of no consequence as most of the youths who could have come to her rescue had gone to town to attend a social function.

“I cried and watched my aged mother being lowered into the boat and it disappeared into the night,” she lamented. Sympathizers, especially women who thronged the kidnapped woman’s home, were heartbroken, saying, “we want mama back, because she is sick.”

A youth who simply identified himself as Ebiowei told Sunday Vanguard that the operation could have been averted had the speaker taken seriously information allegedly leaked to him shortly on his arrival from London, last week, that plans were afoot to kidnap his mother. He said though the speaker had planned to relocate his mother to Yenagoa on getting the information, nobody knew why he changed his mind before jetting out to South Africa.

Also an eyewitness said he was at the river taking his bath when the gunmen struck but that there was nothing he could do because the invaders were heavily armed, stressing that they even released volley of shots in the air to warn any likely intruder before they disappeared into the night.

Similarly, the deputy Amananaowei of Akaibiri town, Chief Mekwe Nimitei, said he had retired to his bed after the day’s job only to be jolted from his deep sleep by the distress cry of the people. The royal father who spoke in his native Ijaw dialect said the kidnappers were already gone when he came out.

With the invaders gone, he said he had no choice but to mobilize his fellow chiefs and community leaders to contact the Joint Task Force and police in Yenagoa. The foremost militant group in the region, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), in a swift reaction, distanced its members from the act, which it linked to what it called internal politics with no connection with the genuine Ijaw struggle for self-determination and resource control.

The group in an online reaction signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said, “We were not involved in such a despicable act. The abductions are undoubtedly related to local politics and the government should rather look inwards for the perpetrators or masterminds of this crime.”

Meanwhile, Speaker Werinipre Seibarugu, who was away in South Africa for a parliamentary conference when his mother’s abduction took place, has cut short his stay to return to Yenagoa to join in effort to secure the release of the victim whose whereabouts remained unknown even as his immediate family has moved out of the Legislative Quarters home in Ekeki, Yenagoa. Also, fierce looking mobile police men have taken over security activities at the quarters with only residents allowed into the premises. Confirming the incident, the state commissioner of police, Mr. Julian Opalaeke, said about six heavily armed youths carried out the attack between 8 and 9p.m. He said a suspect had been arrested and was helping the command in its investigation.

Reacting to the incident, Governor Timipre Sylva vowed to purge
the state of criminal elements, which he said were damaging the state economy as well as the sense of security of people doing business there. As at the time of filing this report, no contact had been established with the kidnappers which is coming barely five days after the state assembly through its chairman committee on information, culture and media, Hon. Robert Enogha, denied initiating moves to impeach Seibarugu and the state deputy governor, Mr. Peremobowei Ebebi. Ebebi and the speaker were until a few days ago at the centre storm of an impeachment saga rocking the state.

It was gathered that some youths sympathetic to Seibarugu travelled, weekend, to an undisclosed community in southern Ijaw notorious for hostage taking and other related vices where they alleged the aged woman was being held captive by the kidnappers.
Contacted, special assistant to the speaker on media, Mr. Jonah Okah, said the family and the police were still waiting to get word from the kidnappers.

On the whereabouts of the speaker’s wife, Okah said, “Mrs. Seibarugu has just been delivered of a baby, and should be left out of the current problem.” He expressed optimism that the old woman would be released soon as, according to him,” she is innocent and has not done anything to deserve what she is presently passing through.”
Police spokesman, Mr. Iniobong Ikpokette in a telephone chat on Friday, said the command was yet to trace the whereabouts of the kidnapped victim.

Rivers State Bloody Week in Review (Sunday Vanguard)

*Gunmen shoot American Prof., kill commissioner’s brother, oil worker

WILL abduction, shooting, cult related violence and killings ever stop in Rivers State? This is the question on many lips. Many had thought that with the raising of a peace and rehabilitation committee by the state government to reach out to militants and cultists in the state, peace would have started returning to the area. But this much sought after peace is appearing to be a mirage or perhaps it is only a matter of time for it to reign. Within the last two weeks several persons have been killed with many sustaining gun shot wounds.

The most recent victim of the sad state was an American professor, Michael Watt, who was reportedly attacked at the office of a new tabloid, National Point, in Orominike street, D line in Port Harcourt. He was allegedly to have been trailed from a bank on Olu Obasanjo Road where he had gone to withdraw money but was told to come back later.

A staff of the tabloid told Sunday Vanguard he was there to receive an award. Shortly after he stepped into the office, the gun men, about eight of them appeared from the blues, ordering him to produce the money he had gone to withdraw from the bank before coming there.

It was like a dream to the professor, according to an eye witness. He however pulled out the six hundred dollars he had on him. But the dare devil militants or robbers thought he was joking and immediately shot him on the right arm. Perhaps for him to know they were serious and not in a Hollywood session.

When it however dawned on them that the six hundred dollars was the only cash the man had on him; in their frustration they, reportedly, smashed the computers in the office and then thoroughly ransacked the place for anything of value. Before fleeing they allegedly shot a guard attached to the newspaper for making effort to deny them entry initially.

Both victims were later rushed to a nearby hospital. Sunday Vanguard later gathered that the professor who was researching on the Niger Delta was badly wounded on the fingers. None of the hospital staff was ready to comment on his health condition when Sunday Vanguard visited the place.

This sad incident came barely twenty four hours after a newly sworn- in commissioner for energy and natural resources, Eldred Billy Braide, cheated death in the hands of suspected assassins and cultists. But his brother, Ipaly Braide and one other were not lucky as they were felled by the bullets of the assailants. Narrating how it happened to the Sunday Vanguard, a family source said minutes after the commissioner was sworn in at a colorful ceremony in Brick House, last Monday, himself and his wife, political admirers, friends and family members retired to a guest house in Amadi flat area of the state capital for a brief reception put together for him by some of his friends and associates.

When they finished there, they moved to his family compound in Lomumba Street for another get together. It was there the gun men struck. The sources said that residents of the street started noticing some strange youths parading the area on motor bikes after the second leg of the party started. But before they could put their fingers on what was to happen, one of the youths came down from his bike and started shooting into the crowd. Many ran but the killers chased them.

They reportedly caught up with the commissioner’s brother, said to be slightly above forty years and shot him at close range and he allegedly died on the spot. Several others sustained bullet wounds. One of them later died at the hospital.
Confirming the sad news, the state commissioner of police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, linked it to political rivalry.

Meanwhile, on that same day, an oil worker simply described as Elder Echendu was shot dead at Ede street in Ogbunabali area of the state capital. Sources said he was driving into his house when gun men caught up with him and immediately opened fire, killing him on the spot. Their intention was not clear at press time. But some people in the area feared it was a case of mistaken identity.

It would be recalled that, two weeks ago, a Lebanese was also shot
dead in the same neighborhood. Sources said he was attacked at about midnight. The state police commissioner said the police were not ruling out failed abduction, robbery or even assassination in his case.

The Lebanese according to those in Ogbonde street said he had been doing his furniture business in the area for decades.” We cannot understand why anybody will want to kill him. He had been doing his furniture business in this area for years. He was almost a Nigerian to many of us”, some of his neighbors lamented.

Coming after his experience was the case of two persons who were shot dead on their way from a bank in the state capital. Sources said the gun men trailed them on a motor bike up to Elekahia before opening fire on them. It could not be confirmed if they dispossessed them of any valuable.

Robbers, Sunday Vanguard learnt, now position themselves in front of banks in Port Harcourt waiting for those that go in to make huge withdrawals. But how they manage to know these people is still a mystery to many. Could it be that they have links within the banks? They wait for their victims to come out, trail them to quiet spots and then threaten to shoot them if they don’t hand over the cash.

The security situation has become alarming in many parts of the state. The caretaker committee chairman of Asari Toru Local Government Area, Mr. Ibaninabo Hamilton Dawarey, last week, reportedly, ordered a curfew in the headquarters of his local government after two rival cult groups clashed in Buguma last Sunday leaving one dead.

Governor Celestine Omehia is deeply worried by the sad situation. This prompted his constitution of a peace and rehabilitation committee to persuade these cultists and militants to drop the nefarious acts. The committee headed by Alhaji Hassan Douglass is expected to begin tour of the twenty three local government areas of the state to pursue peace.

It is the prayer of all that peace returns to the state. Already night life has disappeared from the state capital. As early as 6.30 p.m., most residents start racing home for fear of their lives. So the people truly desire peace.

NCAA Threatens to Degrade Airports (This Day)

The Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren has said the authority will degrade any airport that does not meet certain requirements, noting that some of the airports suffer from infrastructural decay and may not be cleared for certification until they are rehabilitated.

Demuren who addressed journalists at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos at the weekend said that the five international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Calabar must meet international standards before they will be cleared for International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certification, which will take place in September.

He decried the lack of basic facilities in some of the airports and regretted that the Nigeria Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is saddled with too many airports and therefore face daunting challenge to maintain them.

"NCAA will degrade the airports that did not meet the expected standard. FAAN is saddled with so many airports. We cannot accept such decay in our airports. They must meet certain standards so that they will serve the Nigerian public effectively. We must not compromise standards."

On the issue of safety, Demuren said that bad weather was involved in all the accidents that had taken place in Nigeria and cautioned that pilots must wait for bad weather to clear before they operate their flight.

He noted that Nigeria and other countries in Africa are located around tropical revolving thunderstorm, adding that the Gulf of Guinea where Nigeria is located is very stormy.

The NCAA boss disclosed that as part of updating both operators and passengers, weather information will soon be made available at arrival halls of Nigerian airports, stressing that the problem of weather is all over the world.

"All accidents that took place in Nigeria happened in bad weather. Pilots must wait for bad weather to clear before they operate. Nigeria is located in the area of tropical thunderstorm in the gulf of Guinea, but very soon we will begin to show weather reports in arrival halls of the airports."

Demuren revealed that Nigeria has been making progress in the aviation sector, stating that the country must become category 1 compliant so that Nigerians who wish to travel to United States must not go through Europe before going to America but take a direct flight to US.

He said that if the country becomes category 1 compliant it is Nigerian carriers that will benefit because they can now fly to US, which is a very lucrative route.

Besides, the category 1 certification will declare Nigeria's airspace safe and this will boost the nation's economy, noting that within three weeks America's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will reply NCAA with its report, which will prompt the authority to start a programme for a more comprehensive assessment by FAA.

The Director-General also noted that it was because the country passed the ICAO audit opened opportunity for Nigerians carriers through the Cape Town Convention and could lease modern aircraft which have boosted the airlines fleet, that in the major routes of Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt one could only see modern aircraft, unlike in the past when old airplanes dotted the nation's skyline.

"About 18 months ago we lost the confidence of the flying public after the two accidents. Nigeria must be category 1 compliant. Things have changed since now. We have relatively new aircraft. We have safe tower project and Nigeria stands a better chance today for investors to come in and do business."

Collapsed Lagos - Badagry Road Causing Strife (Vanguard)

THE collapse of the Lagos -Badagry Expressway has crippled economic activities of many Nigerians who ply the route to their business areas as man-hours are lost endlessly in traffic. The development is provoking angst as it is drawing flakes of both Nigerians and non-Nigerians. Daily, commuters are held in grueling traffic almost endlessly, mainly due to potholes and craters which have since combined to reduce the road to a death trap, forcing vehicles to snarl, while valuable time is lost. On both sides of the road, Sunday Vanguard could count 115 pot holes and 15 craters, between Mile 2 and Okokomaiko.

The points where the holes are common place are First Gate, Agboju, Oluti, Alakija, Mazamaza, Mile 2, Abule Ado, Under Bridge (Trade Fair), Volks, Iyana Iba and Okokomaiko. Added to the woe of commuters on this route is activities of the men of the underworld, who take advantage of the ugly situation and unleash terror. The traffic caused by the collapsed road is being compounded by flood since the rain started .

Consequently, the profile of victims of robbers on the route has been rising. The situation, Sunday Vanguard Business checks reveal, is already taking its toll on trade between Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries, because the route is the major link Nigeria has with these countries like Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic. Following collapsed sections of the road, operators of transport service and traders from Lagos to other cities on the West Coast spend hours from Lagos to Badagry and Seme border for a journey that should not take more than one our.

As a result, transport operators have jerked up their fares, even as the road users count their loses. Our reporters observed last week, many of the commercial transport operators on the Nigeria, Cotonu (Benin Republic) and other West coast route from their base in Mile 2, in Lagos under the aegis of International Transport Association identifying primarily, bad road networks, as one of the major obstacles impeding free flow of traffic. Chairman of the international transport union, Alhaji Abdelrahem Jimoh, who spoke to our reporter, at their Mile 2 garage lamented seriously the effect of the bad road on the Nigerian economy in terms of loses.

Jimoh said that in addition, this ugly situation and adverse negative effect it has brought the nation’s economy, a journey which ought to have taken a passenger less than two hours now takes about four hours. Speaking further, he blamed the governments for not taken their responsibilities serious, quarrying that all the big talks about developing trans boarder working transport system only ends in government papers without actions .

He noted that if the present government is serious in this matter, it must immediately play its role by ensuring that as from today the issue of this international roads will be addressed and made motor able, as this will not only increase business among Nigerians and other people, but it will also help in saving the lives and properties of innocent citizens from further loss of lives to this bad road

“Can you imagine the number of innocent people who have lost their lives on this road, why we are saying this is that it is a problem that cannot be swept aside. Another thing is that sometimes robbers exploit this situation to unleash terror on transporters and passengers. Because we cannot say who will be the next victim, either you or me. Please our urgent call is to tell the present government as transporters to help Nigerians and people of other West African nations in putting this road well. It will help all of us, but above all, it will also help boost the Nigerian economy which all of us are working for.”

Nigeria Security Update #1 280707

Speaker's 70-year-old Mother Still Being Held (Daily Champion)

The whereabouts of Mrs Hansel Seibaragu, mother of the Speaker, Bayelsa state House of Assembly, kidnapped Wednesday by yet-to-be- identified gun men at Akaibiri in Epketiama, Yenagoa local government area, is still unknown 48 hours after the incident.

Meanwhile, investigations by Daily Champion revealed that the family of the speaker, Hon. Werinipre Seibaragu, has relocated from their Yenagoa residence to an unknown area for security reasons.

This is as some youths sympathetic to the plight of the speaker have headed for Ekuluoma in Southern Ijaw local government area, where it is alleged that Madam Hansel is being held hostage by her captors to possibly secure their release.

Also, economic activities have been paralyzed in the entire Akaibiri community, following the abduction of the 70-year-old Madam Seibaragu, just as a close security source said the family of the speaker may have gone into hiding.

But when contacted on telephone, special assistant to the speaker on media, Mr. Jonah Okah, said he was not aware of such development, but stated that, "well for somebody of his status the provision of security would not be out of place especially in the present circumstances," but added that the family is working with the security agencies to ensure the release of the speaker's mother.

Okah, however said his boss who had traveled to South Africa along with some principal officers of the assembly for a parliamentary conference, is due back in Yenagoa, the state capital today.

On the whereabouts of the speaker's wife, Okah said, Mrs. Seibarugu had just been delivered of a baby, and should be left out of the current travails. He, however expressed optimism that the old woman would be released soon, saying she is innocent and had not done anything to deserve what she is presently passing through.

The state police spokesman, Mr. Iniobong Ikpokette in a telephone chat with Daily Champion said the command was yet to trace the whereabouts of madam Seibarugu, but noted that one of the suspects arrested in connection with the kidnap was making useful statements to the command. He, however, revealed that all security outfits in the state have spread their dragnet to track down the kidnappers.

Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayesla State who only yesterday sent his words of consolation to the speaker, had travelled to Abuja.

Kidnappers Now Targeting Nigerians (News 24)

More reports are emerging of kidnapping rings targeting wealthy Nigerians - perhaps because foreign oil workers are getting harder to snatch.

The children of five prominent families had been seized in southern Rivers State in the past two months; a powerful politician in nearby Delta state was kidnapped and beheaded over the weekend; and gunmen seized the mother of a local official in Bayelsa State on Tuesday.

Kidnappings in Nigeria's south - which was rich in oil, but underdeveloped - first began after impoverished communities took oil workers hostage to protest pollution or failed development projects. Now, criminal gangs had moved in, and kidnappings were on the increase.

Damke Pueba, an activist with civil society group, Stakeholders Democracy Network, said: "No one feels safe anymore. This last year has really been the worst."

New gang members get incentives

Pueba added: "There are lots of groups that you can hire to settle scores with anyone...almost all of them are backed by one corrupt politician or another."

Pointing to a recent scheme announced by the state government to reward gang members who renounced their membership with cash, Pueba said, "that is just an incentive for people to join the gangs".

State officials were not available for comment on the plan.

A Nigeria-based analyst with private security company, Armorgroup, said that the payment of ransoms, relatively low arrest rate and the relocation of many foreign oil workers might also be encouraging kidnappers to turn to Nigerian victims.

He said it was impossible to track kidnappings of Nigerians without reliable statistics, but as oil companies restricted staff movements, more reports of kidnapped Nigerians who were not associated with oil companies were surfacing in local papers and in security circles.

Port Harcourt 'Nigeria's biggest oil city'

He said: "As expatriate targets get harder or rarer, criminals will have to look elsewhere if they want to carry out kidnappings ... anybody with wealth is a target."

Foreign workers in the Delta typically travelled in armed convoys, lived and worked in floodlit compounds protected by high walls and barbed wire, and were forbidden to go out after dark.

Residents of Nigeria's biggest oil city, Port Harcourt, had dubbed the heavily guarded compounds "the Green Zone", a wry reference to the Baghdad area that was home to the United States embassy and the Iraqi government headquarters, an island of relative - and heavily guarded - calm in Iraq's chaos.

Nigeria is Africa's largest crude producer and an important supplier to world markets. But the oil wealth has been stolen or squandered by the country's leaders.

More than 250 foreigners had been seized in the oil-rich south in the last 20 months, and an unknown number of Nigerians.

Amid accusations that government officials took a cut of ransoms they helped negotiate, some kidnap victims preferred not to report incidents to the authorities.

Shell Donates Boats to Bayelsa Community (The Tide)

Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has donated three 12-seat speed boats to Fantua Community in Bayelsa.

The company’s Area B Community Interface Coordinator, Mr Suoton Amade, said during the handover Ceremony in Port Harcourt that the donation was to enable the community to start a commercial water transport scheme.

Amade said that the scheme, if properly handled, would employ 19 members of the Fantua community and positively affect their lives.

He explained that SPDC had already held business literacy and technical skills training for those who would handle the scheme.

He called on the community leaders; to ensure judicious use of the boats.

The coordinator noted that the three boats were built by an indigenous boat company, Epenal Boat Builders Ltd., at a total cost of N11.5 million.

The boats were given to the community with a spare 75 horse power engine and complete safety kits and N100,000 as initial working capital.

The community was also given N60,000 to transport the boats home.

Responding, Chairman of Fantua Community Development Committee, Ogbomo Allen thanked Shell for the gesture.

He expressed the community’s readiness to effectively utilise the boats.

Nigerian Navy Officers Booted for Bunkering Oil (Reuters)

Nigeria's navy has retired 10 officers, including a rear admiral, because of evidence they were involved in smuggling stolen crude oil, the chief of navy staff was reported as saying by the official news agency.

Nigeria is the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but a sizeable proportion of its output is stolen by thieves who either drill into pipelines or hijack barges loaded with oil. The theft and smuggling of oil are known as "bunkering".

Industry experts say much of the violence that plagues the oil-producing Niger Delta is connected to bunkering.

Armed gangs fight turf wars over bunkering territory, they say, while corrupt government officials and members of the security forces protect the gangs in exchange for a cut of the profits. Proceeds from bunkering fuel crime and militancy.

It is rare for the Nigerian armed forces to recognise that any of their own are involved, however, or to comment on the problem.

"They (the navy officers) were involved in oil bunkering," Chief of Navy Staff Ganiyu Adeyeye was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria late on Thursday.

He was answering questions from a House of Representatives committee investigating the retirement of a rear admiral and nine other officers. He said the navy had "formal intelligence reports" against them.

Proceeds from bunkering are a major source of funding for militants in the Niger Delta who often killed naval ratings and officers, Adeyeye said in his presentation.

The Niger Delta has become increasingly anarchic since early 2006, when militants alleging neglect by successive governments launched a wave of attacks on the oil industry and kidnappings of oil workers to press for local control of oil revenues.

The violence spiralled out of control as bunkerers, armed robbers and ransom seekers all sought to take advantage of the breakdown in law and order. More than 200 foreigners have been abducted, mostly for money, and thousands of others have fled the region.

Nigeria's oil output is down by about 20 percent because of the violence.

Exxon Mobil Profits Slip (Washington Post)

Exxon Mobil profit slipped about 1 percent in the second quarter, disappointing analysts as higher exploration and production costs, and lower oil and gas production offset big earnings in the refining and marketing end of the business.

Though the $10.26 billion in profit was the fourth-largest quarterly profit for a public company in U.S. history, Exxon's stock fell $4.56 a share, or 4.9 percent, to $88.23 a share. The company's shares are still up 15 percent this year. Earnings per share were $1.83, up from $1.72, after $7 billion in share buybacks, but earnings fell short of analysts' estimates.

Revenue was $98.35 billion, down from $99.03 billion.

"Exxon obviously was a big disappointment because they spoiled us" with consistent profit gains, said Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Sons. He compared the company to New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez. "When A-Rod strikes out, people say, 'My God' in disappointment because he's hitting a home run every other time," Gheit said.

Exxon's results capped a week of big profits reported by most of the world's largest oil companies. Thanks to a series of refinery fires, breakdowns and maintenance shutdowns, combined with low industry inventories of refined products, profit margins in the refining and marketing end of the business soared. Though U.S. refining output at Exxon dropped by 128,000 barrels a day, compared with the second quarter of 2006, refining and marketing profit jumped 37 percent. Refining and marketing profit also rose 42 percent at Royal Dutch Shell Group and 38 percent at ConocoPhillips Co.

The quarterly reports also showed signs that the industry faces spiraling costs and political problems getting access to oil prospects as existing fields gradually decline.

ConocoPhillips said Wednesday that it took a $4.5 billion write-off in the second quarter for Venezuelan operations taken over by the Caracas government. Exxon said that its output in West Africa was trimmed 9 percent because of quotas from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. And Royal Dutch Shell, which gave in to pressure to sell half its stake in a Sakhalin Island oil project to Russia's Gazprom last quarter, said that 195,000 barrels a day of its Niger delta oil production has been curtailed because of insurgent attacks.

This comes amid gradual declines in output from aging fields. For example, Conoco's production for the quarter averaged 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 2.1 million. The company blamed the decrease on normal field declines, planned maintenance in the North SeaDubai. Its exit from Venezuela will cut production further in the third quarter, the company said. and its decision to leave

Companies are turning to new ways to keep production up. Royal Dutch Shell said that it managed to limit its production decline to 2.3 percent thanks to unconventional projects such as oil sands in Canada and a gas-to-liquids venture in Qatar.

Exxon said that it would explore for oil in Madagascar and New Zealand, not usually considered among the world's best prospects. It also said yesterday that it had drilled the longest well ever, more than seven miles, to reach a subsea oil field on Russia's Pacific coast.

Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Jeroen van der Veer yesterday would not rule out a natural gas development project in Iran, despite pressure from the U.S. government for European firms to help isolate the Tehran regime. He said that the company would "take political considerations into account," but that it was still studying how to follow up on a tentative agreement it reached with Iran last year.

Gheit said that the big oil companies would have trouble matching the second-quarter results. He noted that in the past four weeks, profit margins at refineries had plunged about 50 percent. But production earnings should remain high thanks to high oil prices. The price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange neared an 11-month high before dropping to $74.95 a barrel yesterday.