Residents of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, woke up yesterday to discover an increased presence of troops in some parts of the city.
The deployment of troops followed the abduction of a Nigerian Production Superv-isor with Elf Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Peter Agwuma, last night.
He was kidnapped by unknown men on his way from church around 8.30pm barely twelve hours after a Pakistani construction worker was kidnapped in Ogoniland, also in Rivers State.
The fear of more kidnappings has led to the increase in military presence.
The troops virtually took over the former Eleme Petrochemicals at Indorama in what was tagged a “routine” military exercise.
The Public Relations Officer of the Second Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt, Major Sagir Musa, said residents and visitors should not panic when they see the movements as it was meant not to scare anyone.
“The deployment of troops to Eleme Petrochemical Company is a normal and routine exercise by the Joint Task Force to ensure safety of lives and properties of the company and surrounding inhabitants. People should not panic, it is a conscious and continuous effort aimed at providing an enabling environment for law abiding citizens to carry out their lawful business in a secured and peaceful environment in Rivers state,” he explained.
Agwuma was allegedly picked at Iwofe road area by Agip Road. Since he was picked, nothing has been heard of him.
Confirming the story, the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu said “there is no news at all on the incident since he was taken away. Nobody or group has claimed responsibility”.
Also responding to inquiries, the Head of Corporate Affairs of Elf in Nigeria, Mr. Fred Ohwawha confirmed that their staff was kidnapped but that they do not know those behind it.
“We do not know the motive of the people who kidnapped him and we do not want to speculate. We are trying to do our best. We have been in touch with the family and the police on the matter,” he said.
Delta Security Summit Held
FOUR Niger Delta governors yesterday joined a Federal Government team at a meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, where restiveness among Nigerian oil-bearing communities and the need to secure the Gulf of Guinea topped the agenda.
The forum, tagged: "The Gulf of Guinea Energy Security Strategy (GGESS)," was also attended by representatives of the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (UK).
The Federal Government team was headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe.
The Governors are Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Celestine Omehia (Rivers), Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Chief Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa).
In attendance were the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Richard Gozney; Managing Director of Shell and Chairman, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Basil Omiyi; as well as his ExxonMobil and Total counterparts.
Also present were the Deputy Managing Director of Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Mr. Akin Aruwajoye, and the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Timi Alaibe.
Kingibe, at the meeting, disclosed the heavy toll of restiveness in the region on the country and put Nigeria's revenue losses from incessant disruption of crude oil production at about N5 billion ($40 million) daily.
Kingibe said that the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua administration had held a series of direct dialogues with all the stakeholders in the region and would continue to reassure the people of his administration's willingness to address their problems.
"There is presently a shut-in of 500,000 barrels of oil per day which translates to a revenue loss in the region of $40 million per day," Kingibe said.
He noted other impacts to include major cost escalations ranging between 30 and 40 per cent across some key upstream projects, as contractors now factor in their contract bids, "a Niger Delta Premium", which covers community expectations, kidnaps, and higher insurance premium, among others.
He said that the government understands clearly the need to establish normalcy and bring development to the region and adopt sustainable initiative by engaging the militants in economic empowerment initiative through the GGESS.
Kingibe added that the government is also ensuring law and order in the region.
"Of all these factors, re-establishment of law and order remains the basis on which other strategies can be effectively pursued and achieved," he said.
Kingibe said that the new government had already begun a revitalization programme for the Joint Task Force to make it more efficient and effective.
"This revitalized Task Force will be charged with the responsibility of preventing sabotage to oil and gas pipelines, securing oil and gas facilities, installation of onshore and offshore facilities, curbing oil theft and (bunkering), preventing kidnappings and hostage-taking," he said.
He disclosed that prevention and interception of illegal cross-border oil cartel as well as locating and neutralizing local interest groups that support arms trafficking and other illicit activities in the oil business would also be the focus of the task force.
He said: "The Task Force shall also ensure that the principles of Extractive Industry Transparent Initiative (EITI) take a stronger foothold in business undertaking of the industry in Nigeria."
Presidential envoy on GGESS, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, spoke at the meeting, which was the seventh in the series. He stressed that the activities of GGESS were strategies to address the security and development needs in the Niger Delta region.
Kupolokun, who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said with all the stakeholders, development agencies and the international communities coming together under the umbrella of GGESS, issues on the Niger Delta will soon be a thing of the past. He added that President Yar'Adua has demonstrated his commitment to the ideals of the group.
Kupolokun noted that the group witnessed rapid growth last year following the inclusion of Canada, France, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland as its members.
"This expansion is a reflection of the continued focus of the group on its primary objective of ensuring that the development of the Niger Delta region in an atmosphere of peace and stability remains paramount," he said.
Lagos Under Siege of "One Chance" (This Day)
THIS undoubtedly should rank as the rave of the moment in the crime world. Known only by its street name - One Chance, it is almost entirely unique to the Lagos metropolis.
In fact, some have argued that it was originally exported to other parts of the country by Lagos. As it is, the one chance menace has overtaken the 'agberos' or social miscreants in terms of notoriety in Lagos.
THIS undoubtedly should rank as the rave of the moment in the crime world. Known only by its street name - One Chance, it is almost entirely unique to the Lagos metropolis.
In fact, some have argued that it was originally exported to other parts of the country by Lagos. As it is, the one chance menace has overtaken the 'agberos' or social miscreants in terms of notoriety in Lagos.
Once upon a time, the nation's commercial capital used to be a paradise of some sorts, where residents and indigenes would not only sleep with their two eyes shut and doors and windows to their apartments wide open, they could also literarily jump into any commercial bus or car for that matter, with no second thoughts.
Today, only a new comer to the city can afford to take that risk. Today, also the phrase 'shine your eyes' is more than a mantra for the average resident, it is also the revered code of conduct, for those who do not want to risk their material belongings, not to talk of their lives.
From the Ojota end of the Ikorodu road to their favoured Oshodi-Apapa expressway with its Airport road axis: And from the Okokomaiko end of the Badagry expressway, the tales of woe and grief recounted by victims have become like a symphony in the Lagos air, and a sad one at that too.
Aptly put, one in every 50 Lagosian has fallen victim to this unnerving experience called 'One Chance' that has become a fashion accessory for criminals who for the sheer love of the game or for their favourite excuse of unemployment lay siege to commuters at dusk posing as passengers and dispossessing them of their belongings midway into their journey.
The harrowing experience often leaves some victims speechless from shock either at having a gun pointed at your face or being hurled out of a moving vehicle.
While some have been extremely 'lucky' to merely part with just their material belongings, others have been maimed from injuries sustained on impact with the hard tarred road when unceremoniously pushed out of a vehicle moving at nearly 100 miles per hour!
Still for others, their whereabouts is still a thing of mystery fit to be resolved only by the Scotland Yard, as the Nigerian police are up to their neek deep in the riddle as to why Lagos often accounts for a huge number of missing person cases.
Through the entire duration of their operation, hardly is any gunshot fired. In fact, no single shot is fired, but the sight of a gun in the hands of people who look like they are from another planet and not the Nigerians, your compatriots, you used to know, is enough to dissuade any intended resistance.
And so the story goes that at the end, you and the other hapless victims so unfortunate as to board that commercial bus that fateful evening, will end up losing hard-earned property.
And the high number of people who daily troop to the customer care offices of the telecommunications companies seeking to recover their lines is testimony to an equally high increase in the activities of the 'One Chance stakeholders' in the country.
Their choice vehicle is the 14-seater Volkwagen Vanagon,' popularly called the 'danfo', not that other brands are forbidden. Even the cars, 'Coaster', the 'Civilian' brands of Mass transit buses are no exception as they operate with ease in any of these. Whether hijacked or owned by them is never a problem in carrying out their activities on unsuspecting commuters.
In all these, however, the Mercedes Benz 911, or 1414 brands, popularly called the 'molue' in commuter parlance seems to be the exception for the One Chance operatives, probably because of the high risk involved in hijacking and managing the crowd of nearly 100 passengers that the metal contraption conveys at any given time.
Ironically, throughout the 80's and almost the entire 90's, the phenomenon that has evolved and is nicknamed One Chance was virtually unheard of.
According to many residents, this trend is relatively new to the city. For them, when it first surfaced at the tail end of the 90's they had watched in hope that it would one day go away, but all to no avail, instead, the trend has grown in leaps and bounds, and metamorphosed in modus operandi to the extent that criminal in other state capitals have replicated one form or the other of the same One Chance menace, even though, it might not exactly be the same.
Today, in the metropolis, what used to be strictly a nocturnal operation is done right in broad day light and even in full view of passersby and the police!
Picture this Hollywood-like scenario: Have you ever boarded a commercial bus or car and someone seated beside or in front of you, pulls out a knife or gun at you and orders you to give up your possessions? And while the vehicle is still in motion, he along with his other fake passengers proceeds to bundle you out of the vehicle and onto the hard and rough tarred or 'un-tarred' (depending on the location) road?
That is the classic scenario in any 'One Chance' playout. The scenes could be modified, adapted to any particular setting, but the tale of misery is the same by all victims.
Sampling the various opinions of Lagos residents on the menace posed by the criminals whose stock in trade is 'One Chance', there are two schools of thoughts as to how this crime not only evolved but why it has also waxed strong.
For Funke Adetutu, a journalist, the matter of One Chance was a time bomb waiting to explode in the face of the city which has no discernable government-run mass transit system.
"Look, government does not anymore have buses on the road or even any other efficient mass transit system. It is individuals who put their cars or buses on the roads. As it is, what these people choose to do with their vehicles is entirely their business. It is only the masses who suffer in the end," said Adetutu.
Indeed, it appears that since the collapse of the Lateef Jakande metro-line initiative on mass transportation for Lagos residents, private individuals have run the scheme.
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