THE Joint Task Force on the Niger Delta (JTF) says it has intensified its efforts to free 18 foreign workers taken hostage over the past months by militants in the Niger Delta. �We have stepped up efforts to locate the whereabouts of the men with a view to getting them released. The Bayelsa State government is collaborating with the security agents to free the hostages,� Brigadier-General Alfred Ilogho, the Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF), said yesterday, even as President Olusegun Obasanjo met in Abuja with two separate delegates from the oil sector on the situation in the Niger Delta.
Armed men early Wednesday kidnapped nine South Korean workers and a Nigerian from Seoul-based oil services firm, Daewoo Engineering, who were working on a pipeline contract for the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, in the southern Bayelsa State.
The latest attack came barely five days after the abduction of five Chinese telecom workers and one month after the kidnapping of three Italians and one Lebanese, all of whom are still being held.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for abducting either the Chinese or the South Koreans.
One of the most prominent and most vocal of the southern militant groups, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which is holding the Italians and the Lebanese, has said it was not involved in kidnapping either group of Asian workers. MEND has, however, vowed to step up its attacks on oil targets until its political demands are met.
Also yesterday, President Olusegun Obasanjo met at State House, Abuja with two separate delegations from the oil sector during which he underscored his concern about security in the Niger Delta.The President told them that government would not relent in its efforts to find a lasting solutionto the problem of security in the area.He directed leaders of thought in the Niger Delta to meet urgently to review the security situationand make suggestions to government for appropriate action.One of the delegations comprised Mr. Malcolm Brinded, Mr. Basil Omiyi and Ms. Ann Pickard of Shell Petroleum while the other was made up of Mr. John Watson, Mr. Fred Nelson, Mr. Chuck Taylor andMr. Femi Odumabo of Chevron.Earlier, Mr. Brinded had commended President Obasanjo�s �positive support�and efforts to strengthen security in the Niger Delta, while Mr. Watson said Chevron�s future investments in Nigeria would be second only to the United States of America.
ANPP decries state of insecurity in N/Delta
Meanwhile, the All Nigeria People�s Party (ANPP) has decried the state of insecurity in the Niger Delta especially the latest hostage-taking of five Chinese, nine Koreans and a Nigerian by gunmen.
In a statement, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Emma Eneukwu, said the ANPP viewed with great concern the spate of hostage taking in the Niger Delta.
He also expressed worry at the rate of pipeline explosion just because of the negligence of the people charged with the responsibilities of ensuring safety of these pipelines.
According to him, �the ANPP views with great concern the spate of insecurity in our dear country. Hardly does any hour pass without somebody being killed in one form or the other.
�What of the incessant clashes that have claimed scores of lives. According to medical reports, not less than 10 people were killed in separate clashes in parts of Ogoniland, Rivers State on Tuesday. The Niger Delta region has remained a flash point where the abduction of oil workers is now the order of the day.
�Last week, five Chinese technical workers were reportedly abducted in Port Harcourt and up till now nobody seems to know their whereabouts. We cannot continue like this. We must restore the sanctity and dignity of the Nigerian citizens,� Eneukwu said.