At least five people were shot and killed on Saturday evening in a small community a few kilometres (miles) from Nigeria's largest refinery in the oil hub Port Harcourt in Rivers state, a spokesman police and local leaders said on Sunday.
Gunmen on motorbikes rode around Agbonchia for about an hour shooting at people, youth leader Osaro Nwoke and Simeon Awaji, a local council official said.
Police spokesman, Ahmad Mohammad, said that five people had been killed and that 11 people connected to the attack had been arrested, one on Saturday and the others on Sunday.
"We arrested 10 people today ... items recovered included a Lexus jeep, two motorcylces and ... ammunition," Mohammad said.
The delta region periodically sees kidnappings and shoot-outs between local gangs.
Reuters
Monday, July 13, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Oil-Pipeline blast kills 12 in Nigeria
Twelve people died and three were injured in an explosion during repair work at an Eni SpA crude oil pipeline in Nigeria.
The victims worked on a maintenance team for a local service company, Rome-based Eni said in a statement Friday. The Tebidaba-Clough Creek pipeline in the Niger delta was previously “damaged by acts of sabotage.” The company said it is still investigating the cause of Thursday’s blast.
Accidents are common in Nigeria, where pipelines are often breached in attempts to pilfer crude. The incidents interrupt oil and gas flows, affecting Nigeria’s energy exports and revenue for companies including Eni, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. Thursday’s incident was the worst since January 2012, when an explosion at Chevron’s Funiwa gas field killed two workers, according to a spokesman for a local environmental group.
“The dead were unidentifiable,” said Alagoa Morris of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate of Friends of the Earth. “Two people that were seriously wounded were rushed to Port Harcourt last night for medical attention. They were badly burnt but they were still alive.”
Eni had 13 incidents related to pipelines and oil wells in Nigeria in May including theft, pipelines being cut using a hacksaw and equipment failure, according to the company’s website. Seventeen were reported in April and 14 in March.
Hundreds have been killed in Nigerian pipeline accidents in the past decade. An explosion at a vandalized oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, started a fire that killed at least 200 people and burned many more in December 2006. In May that year, about 200 people were killed when another oil pipeline exploded near Lagos.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, loses an estimated 300,000 barrels a day to criminal gangs that tap crude from pipelines that criss-cross the southern, oil-rich delta for local refining or sale to tankers waiting offshore, according to state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
Bloomberg
The victims worked on a maintenance team for a local service company, Rome-based Eni said in a statement Friday. The Tebidaba-Clough Creek pipeline in the Niger delta was previously “damaged by acts of sabotage.” The company said it is still investigating the cause of Thursday’s blast.
Accidents are common in Nigeria, where pipelines are often breached in attempts to pilfer crude. The incidents interrupt oil and gas flows, affecting Nigeria’s energy exports and revenue for companies including Eni, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. Thursday’s incident was the worst since January 2012, when an explosion at Chevron’s Funiwa gas field killed two workers, according to a spokesman for a local environmental group.
“The dead were unidentifiable,” said Alagoa Morris of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate of Friends of the Earth. “Two people that were seriously wounded were rushed to Port Harcourt last night for medical attention. They were badly burnt but they were still alive.”
Eni had 13 incidents related to pipelines and oil wells in Nigeria in May including theft, pipelines being cut using a hacksaw and equipment failure, according to the company’s website. Seventeen were reported in April and 14 in March.
Hundreds have been killed in Nigerian pipeline accidents in the past decade. An explosion at a vandalized oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, started a fire that killed at least 200 people and burned many more in December 2006. In May that year, about 200 people were killed when another oil pipeline exploded near Lagos.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, loses an estimated 300,000 barrels a day to criminal gangs that tap crude from pipelines that criss-cross the southern, oil-rich delta for local refining or sale to tankers waiting offshore, according to state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
Bloomberg
Video - Nigeria's dairy industry
Some economists believe that Nigeria's dairy industry has the potential to be a major source of jobs and revenue for the country. Dairy farmers, however, say the government isn't doing enough to develop the industry. Farmers complain of facing major problems getting their products to the market.
Video - Nigeria electricity crisis worsens
How is it possible to have a country which is veritably swimming in crude oil but where less than half the population has electricity? That's the situation in Nigeria, according to figures from the World Bank. Residents of Africa's most populous nation live with daily power cuts and most rely on generators for their everyday needs. The country is touted as an emerging economy to watch, but can it fix its problems of infrastructure and oil supply in order to meet its touted potential?
Related story: Video - Electricity shortage threatening Nigeria's economy
Volkswagen restarts car manufacturing in Nigeria
Years after vehicle assembly operations got suspended by Volkswagen of Nigeria Ltd (VON), the firm on Tuesday, unveiled brand new Jetta, CC and Amarok models to kick-start full operations in Nigeria.
Stating its commitment to provide customers, particularly Nigerians with not only the right but also consistently the best choice while ensuring that the Nigerian automobile market becomes viable, the official representative of Volkswagen in Nigeria, Stallion group said that it would continue to work harder to make sure that cars become affordable in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, Chairman of Stallion group Sunil Vaswani said: “This is a great moment for Stallion in partnering with a world leading global brand like Volkswagen.
We are immensely pleased to bring back the proud legacy of Nigeria automotive industry – the Volkswagen brand that once was indigenously produced at the same premises.” According to him, Stallion is committed to investing and expanding its operations in the automotive value chain across multiple global brands and paving the way for Nigeria to establish itself as a regional leader in the automobile eco system.
The Director-General, National Automotive Council (NAC), Aminu Jalal, in a speech delivered by the Executive Director, National Automotive Council, Lukman Mamudu at the event commended the efforts of the organisation, saying, “we delivered and they also delivered” Jalal said the automobile industry is a great tool for industrial development in any nation, particularly in a developing country like Nigeria, stating further that the initiative would drastically reduce unemployment problem in Nigeria.
According to him, the development in the automotive sector would enable Nigeria to create employment, acquire technology for industrialization and reduce pressure on the country’s balance of payment position resulting from escalating vehicle import bill. Jalal stated: “The response to the policy has exceeded our expectations. Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot and Renault vehicles are now assembled locally.
Toyota, Ford and many others are concluding their feasibility studies with a view to setting up assembly operations. Our focus has accordingly shifted to the development of local content.” Leader of the Volkswagen Group delegation from Germany, Ratz Wolfgang, noted that the event marks the revival of the assembly of Volkswagen vehicles in Nigeria, stressing that Volkswagen has returned to Nigeria to continue a long history that began in the 1970s.
As the largest market in Sub Sahara Africa, Wolfgang noted that Nigeria remained strategic to the firm as Volkswagen seeks new opportunities to expand its market reach across the globe.
“We are certain that further growth is possible, which is why Volkswagen is constantly searching for new opportunities to increase global market and sales potential and we appreciate the fact that we are able to strengthen our business relationship with our professional partner Stallion,” he said.
The Guardian
Stating its commitment to provide customers, particularly Nigerians with not only the right but also consistently the best choice while ensuring that the Nigerian automobile market becomes viable, the official representative of Volkswagen in Nigeria, Stallion group said that it would continue to work harder to make sure that cars become affordable in Nigeria.
Speaking at the event, Chairman of Stallion group Sunil Vaswani said: “This is a great moment for Stallion in partnering with a world leading global brand like Volkswagen.
We are immensely pleased to bring back the proud legacy of Nigeria automotive industry – the Volkswagen brand that once was indigenously produced at the same premises.” According to him, Stallion is committed to investing and expanding its operations in the automotive value chain across multiple global brands and paving the way for Nigeria to establish itself as a regional leader in the automobile eco system.
The Director-General, National Automotive Council (NAC), Aminu Jalal, in a speech delivered by the Executive Director, National Automotive Council, Lukman Mamudu at the event commended the efforts of the organisation, saying, “we delivered and they also delivered” Jalal said the automobile industry is a great tool for industrial development in any nation, particularly in a developing country like Nigeria, stating further that the initiative would drastically reduce unemployment problem in Nigeria.
According to him, the development in the automotive sector would enable Nigeria to create employment, acquire technology for industrialization and reduce pressure on the country’s balance of payment position resulting from escalating vehicle import bill. Jalal stated: “The response to the policy has exceeded our expectations. Nissan, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot and Renault vehicles are now assembled locally.
Toyota, Ford and many others are concluding their feasibility studies with a view to setting up assembly operations. Our focus has accordingly shifted to the development of local content.” Leader of the Volkswagen Group delegation from Germany, Ratz Wolfgang, noted that the event marks the revival of the assembly of Volkswagen vehicles in Nigeria, stressing that Volkswagen has returned to Nigeria to continue a long history that began in the 1970s.
As the largest market in Sub Sahara Africa, Wolfgang noted that Nigeria remained strategic to the firm as Volkswagen seeks new opportunities to expand its market reach across the globe.
“We are certain that further growth is possible, which is why Volkswagen is constantly searching for new opportunities to increase global market and sales potential and we appreciate the fact that we are able to strengthen our business relationship with our professional partner Stallion,” he said.
The Guardian
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)