Gunmen on Tuesday seized a Pakistani construction worker in the restive oil-rich southern Nigerian Rivers State, community sources said. The source said the kidnappers were in a speedboat. The Pakistani, whose name was given as Tahiri, was kidnapped in Bodo-city in the volatile Ogoni region.
The Rivers state police commissioner, Felix Ogbuadu told AFP he could not immediately confirm the abduction. Community sources said the kidnapped man worked for the Gitto Construction Company, which is building a road in Rivers State in the Niger Delta.
According to sources, his employees have been having a running battle with the local community for refusing to pay one billion naira (7.7 million dollars), which the community was demanding to allow the company to work at the site. The Niger Delta is the hub of Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry, which has seen a wave of violence, kidnappings and even killing of workers in recent weeks. More than 200 foreigners mostly oil workers have been seized since the start of 2006 in the region, where unrest has cut the country's 2.6 million barrels per day output by around a quarter.
Most have been freed after a few days or weeks, often with a ransom paid. Nearly all multinational oil companies have moved expatriate families away from the region.