Nigerians kidnap British toddler

In an escalation of abductions by Nigerian gunmen in the Niger Delta, the three-year old daughter of a British oil worker has been reportedly kidnapped.

While the kidnapping of foreign oil workers has become a routine hazard of oil development in the region, in the past few weeks tactics have suddenly changed with children becoming the targets for abductions.

Recently armed gangs have kidnapped the daughters of a regional businessman and a state legislator, both of which were released unharmed after ransom demands were met.

Yesterday another five foreign oil workers were also kidnapped.

It marks an unwelcome escalation in a region responsible for 90% of Nigeria’s oil production, and yet a region that remains both terribly impoverished and often, lawless.

While a number of armed groups are believed to operate in southern Nigeria, the most organised, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), has both declared that it will not extend a cease-fire but that it was not responsible for the recent abductions.

Continued restlessness in Nigeria is likely to cause further jitters on the oil futures markets, which are already in tension over a range of international concerns.

These include Iranian nuclear politics, nationalisation in Venezuela, continued attacks in Iraq, along with a whole string of localised incidents affecting supply and output, such as the recent flooding of a refinery in Kansas. And we haven’t even begun the hurricane season yet.

Meanwhile, the British foreign office has yet to confirm the nationality of the kidnapped child. Even still, a change in tactics by Nigerian gangs to target children is bound to cause serious upset in a region that is already dangerously unstable.