Nigerian pirates storm oil barge, kill 2 Nigerians and kidnap 4 foreigners

Pirates suspected to be Nigerians yesterday attacked a Dutch oil vessel, killing two Nigerian naval guards and kidnapping four foreigners, a report by Agence France Presse (AFP) said.

The pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, an area that has seen a sharp spike in the number of reported marine attacks over the last six months.

A spokeswoman for Sea Trucks Group, which provides support vessels to oil companies operating in Nigeria, told AFP that one of the company's ships came under fire and that the firm's employees were taken in the raid.

"At this time Sea Trucks Group is making every effort to ascertain the whereabouts of its personnel," the spokeswoman, Corrie van Kessel, told AFP.

Nigeria's navy spokesman Commodore Kabir Aliyu said during the attack "four expatriates are reported to have been kidnapped from the vessel; two sailors were killed."

He said those kidnapped were from Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Thailand.

The attack, which also left two other seamen injured, took place at roughly 0100 on Saturday, 35 nautical miles off Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta coastal area, the navy and company said.

Aliyu told AFP that the motive of the attack had not yet been established and that so far there has not been any communication with the gunmen.

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Police diffuse bomb in Abuja Church

There was pandemonium at Dunamis Gospel Centre, Nyanya/Mararaba branch, on Wednesday night, after a security man discovered a bomb in the church and raised the alarm.

Over 1, 000 worshippers ran helter-skelter and are still counting their blessings after they survived what would have been a massive bomb attack. The bomb was said to have been placed in the church during their evening service but failed to detonate.

The anti-bomb squad of the police, which defused the bomb yesterday morning, described the bomb as foreign-made and capable of bringing down not only the church but surrounding buildings as well.

When LEADERSHIP visited the church yesterday, a church security man, who gave his name as Moses Uzoka said he discovered the bomb during a routine security sweep of the church. After the evening church service, he said, at about 9:30pm, he noticed a suspicious object in a bag under a seat at the children's section of the church.

He said: "I have never seen a bomb in my life but when I saw the object, it resembled the type of bombs I have seen in movies and I quickly shouted and everybody fled the church. We called one SSS man who lives near the church and he told us it was a bomb."



Uzoka narrated how he and others ran to the security post nearest to the church at "checking point", on the boundary between the FCT and Nasarawa State. He said the security agents insisted that they would not come on the grounds that the area was not within their jurisdiction and referred them to the Abacha police station. He said when they ran to the Abacha Road police station, the personnel there in turn referred them to the Mararaba police division.

"It was between midnight and 1am when the police from Mararaba came. When they saw the bomb they ran back and called their DPO. He too came to see it and went back. Later they brought an anti-bomb squad from Abuja to come and handle the bomb," Uzoka said.

LEADERSHIP learnt that it was later in the morning, about 11am, that an FCT anti-bomb squad arrived at the church to defuse the bomb and take it away.

Uzoka told our correspondent that a member of the anti-bomb squad said it was a foreign-made bomb and bigger than any he had seen since he started working on bombs.

He said: "The leader of the anti-bomb squad was shocked at the size of the bomb. He said that, if the bomb had gone off, not only would it have flattened the church and everything inside it, but that it would have destroyed the surrounding buildings as well.

When they were bringing out the bomb, I saw the inscription engraved on it: it was 'Mountain Fire' or something like that."

A LEADERSHIP reporter, who saw the police bomb squad taking the explosive away at about 11am yesterday, said he could not get very close because the police had cordoned off the church's frontage while they went about defusing the bomb.

A cleric at the church, simply called Evangelist Sunny, praised God for saving the lives of the worshippers.

He said:"When we discovered it, we quickly called Abacha Road police station. They refused to respond at that time. We went further to call Mararaba police station and they now came to the church to help with the situation. They later informed the anti-bomb squad of the FCT command which came later to defuse the said bomb."

When contacted, a senior police officer at the Nyanya police post, who does not want his name in print, confirmed that policemen went to the church but that they only found "some bags with perfumes and other materials".that can collapse the building at once," he said.

The head of the technical unit of the church, Godstime Asuquo, who spoke when newsmen visited the church on Thursday morning, said the FCT anti-bomb squad was contacted immediately to detonate the bomb.

He said it was only the grace of God upon the Church that did not allow the perpetrators of the dastardly act to succeed, adding that the church was planning to engage more security personnel to ensure adequate security in and around the church premises.

The commotion expectedly drew a large crowd to the frontage of the church. A GSM recharge cards seller, who has a kiosk just opposite the church, Linus Agi, said he was afraid to go into the church, though he saw the bomb when the anti-bomb squad brought it out and was taking it away.

"I was still around when it happened. We all ran away at first. Later in the morning, I saw when the police people brought out the bomb and took it away ," Agi said.

LEADERSHIP learnt that the church had been having a week-long revival programme to mark the beginning of a new month and that it was filled to the brim because the members had turned out en masse for the anointing and commune service.

One security man said over 1,000 worshippers attended the service and that it was the biggest church attendance he could remember.

Sometime last year, there was a rumour that the church had been bombed but it turned out to be a false alarm.

When contacted, a senior police officer at the Nyanya police post, who does not want his name in print, confirmed that policemen went to the church but that they only found "some bags with perfumes and other materials".

Leadership

World Bank gives Nigeria $200 million loan for infrastructure

To help address the huge infrastructure deficit in Nigeria, the World Bank is poised to provide $200 million as a seed fund to set up a Financial Intermediary Loan (FIL) scheme under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.

Head, Legal and Governance, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Joe Ohiani, disclosed this at the inaugural ESQ Project Finance Summit, held in Lagos, and stated that some other development finance organisations have also agreed to contribute to the scheme.

He added that eligible participating financial intermediaries, particularly commercial banks with Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as the lead, will lend to qualifying private sector partners in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project at the financial intermediaries' risk.

He however emphasised that the objective of the scheme is to provide long term funding for infrastructure development in the country.

He stressed that in selecting eligible projects, priority would be given to public investment programmes which are in accordance with the national policy on PPP and captured in the federal government Medium Term Sector Strategies and the National Infrastructure Plan of the Vision 20:2020.

Presenting a paper titled, 'Governmental Promotion of Infrastructure Development,' Ohiani bemoaned the deplorable state of infrastructure in the continent as revealed by a recent report of the World Economic Forum.

The report showed that though annual investment in infrastructure in Africa doubled from $17 billion to $35 billion between 2001 and 2009, the overall infrastructure spending needs for sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at $93 billion annually over the next decade.

He noted that the annual infrastructure investment gap of $31 billion offers huge opportunities for private sector finance in infrastructure developments in Africa. "Governments in Africa are taking active steps towards addressing the state of infrastructure in the region," he added.

On the state of infrastructure in the country, Ohiani expressed regret that the federal government has been the sole financier of infrastructure projects and has often taken responsibility for construction, operations and maintenance, stating that the national fiscal budget was the principal source of financing infrastructure development.

He disclosed that between 1999 and 2007, government spent about N2 billion through direct budgetary allocations on basic infrastructure in agriculture and water resources, transportation, education, health, power generation and distribution. He also warned that declining financial resources was making this option less feasible, thereby accelerating infrastructural deterioration.

Ohiani further stated that despite challenges such as getting the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and private sector partners to abide by the PPP guidelines, ICRC would bring 20 projects to the market before the end of the year.

"We have developed a robust database of concessions already entered into by the Federal Government. Also we are promoting the development of funding sources and instruments with long tenor for financing infrastructural projects and we are also working with National Planning authorities to integrate infrastructure in its framework," he added

Speaking earlier, CEO, ESQ Seminars, organisers of the summit, Mr. Lere Fashola, said the aim of summit was to take a critical review of different near-term or completed projects across Africa, recent legal and legislative developments in different countries as well as the challenges of the bidding process in the electrical and power sectors, and governmental promotion of infrastructure development projects.

Other speakers including Resident Representative, African Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Ousmane Dore, and Senior Vice President, Power, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Baldeh Baatchi, pledged support of their organisations to the development of infrastructure on the continent.

This Day

Boko Haram terrorists killed at Chad border

Nigeria's military said Wednesday that two suspected Boko Haram Islamists who were trying to smuggle heavy weapons into the country were killed by troops during a shootout on the border with Chad.

The alleged insurgents were caught carrying rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles as well as other assorted ammunition and weaponry, Sagir Musa, a military spokesman in the northeastern town of Maiduguri told AFP.

Maiduguri, considered Boko Haram's base, has seen some of the worst violence blamed on the radical Islamist group, which is charged with killing more than 1,000 people in Nigeria since mid-2009.

"The interception was carried out around 2100 on Monday at the Daban Masara border," Musa said, referring to the crossing just north of Maiduguri.

"Two suspected Boko Haram members escorting the consignment were killed in an exchange of gunfire while the third fled," he added, claiming "the weapons were heading to Maiduguri for terrorist attacks."

The crossing on Lake Chad is also close to the borders with Niger and Cameroon.

The troops who killed the suspected insurgents were part of a four-country multi-national force set up several years ago partly to stem the flow of illegal weapons through the porous border regions, Musa said.

Some security analysts say that Boko Haram regularly purchases weapons from markets in Chad and Niger.

There is also speculation that the radical Nigerian group has benefitted from the weaponry that poured out of Libya during the conflict that toppled ex-dictator Moamer Kadhafi last year.

Three of Boko Haram's presumed top leaders were last month designated global terrorists by the United States.

AFP

Related stories: Video - How Nigeria should tackle Boko Haram

Austria plans to deport 1,000 Nigerians

A controversial agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Austrian government, allegedly signed last week, to deport 1,000 Nigerian asylum seekers from the European country has received knocks from stakeholders who questioned the propriety of the treaty.

But Nigeria's foreign affairs ministry yesterday distanced itself from the said treaty allegedly signed in Abuja. The ministry's spokesperson and acting director (public communication), Ogbole Amedu-Ode, told LEADERSHIP that his office was not "formally" aware of the development.

Going by a monitored report, the Nigerian ambassador to Austria, Maria Oyeyinka Laose, allegedly led an Austrian high delegation to Nigeria and signed the purported treaty. The report citing the Austrian Press Agency and Austrian newspapers added that the agreement was signed last week in Abuja by the Austrian vice-chancellor and foreign minister, Michael Spindelegger, and Nigerian foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru.

In a swift reaction to the development, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the committee will make concerted efforts to peruse the contents of the said agreement to ensure that the interests of Nigerians in Austria are protected.

Dabiri-Erewa however stated that she has not had the opportunity to go through the details of the document and cannot make any informed statement on it.

"I cannot make any informed commentary if I don't know the details of the agreement. However in all we do, the interests of Nigerians should be paramount," she said.

A report by Uzoma Ahamefule, a Nigerian living in Vienna, Austria, entitled "Austria: Hurting Nigerians through diplomacy" states that Nigerian communities in Austria are calling on President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Assembly to come to their aid.

The report reads in part: "The Nigerian people and government officials should go through the report again and envision in whose interest the treaty is trying to serve. What is the gain of the entity called Nigeria in this kind of treaty if not abuses, humiliations, pains and sorrows for her citizens?

"This kind of embarrassing bilateral agreement only tramples on the rights of Nigerians."

Ahamefule said on May 23, 2012, the father of a two and a half-year-old boy was reportedly arrested at his apartment in the morning, and, by night, he was on a plane back to Nigeria.

"Neither the ambassador nor any of her officers got in contact with the man to ascertain what he might have done," Ahamefule said.

Meanwhile, a Nigerian, Anthony Esikalm Ndidi, faces the possibility of a death sentence after he was arraigned before a Malaysian court for alleged involvement in trafficking in methamphetamines in the country.

Suspects standing trial in some Asian countries including Malaysia are usually sentenced to death by hanging if convicted. Hundreds of convicts are on death row over involvement in drug-related offences.

Ndidi was charged with Emma Louise L'Aiguille, an Australian nurse, two weeks after police said they were arrested in possession of one kilogramme of the illicit drug.

Anyone found to be in possession of at least 50 grammes of methamphetamine is considered a trafficker.

The court heard L'Aiguille has been in and out of Malaysia on tourist visas since 2009 and was arrested in downtown Kuala Lumpur on July 17 in the driver's seat of a parked car. A kilogramme of amphetamine was found under a rear seat.

The court heard that two other passengers - both Nigerian citizens and one believed to be L'Aiguille's boyfriend - escaped arrest.

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