British Expat’Sdaughter, 3, Kidnapped on School Run By Nigerian Gang

By Frank Urquhart

THE wave of kidnappings in the lawless Niger Delta took a sinister new twist yesterday after armed rebels snatched the three- year-old daughter of an expatriate British worker.

The girl, Margaret Hill, was seized by gunmen in the bustling oil city of Port Harcourt when the 4×4 car in which she was being taken to school became stuck in morning traffic.

Kidnappers smashed a window and grabbed the toddler, according to an official at the British High Commission.

Reports since have suggested the kidnappers are in contact with Margaret’s father Mike Hill, who has lived in Nigeria for ten years.

The Foreign Office called for the “immediate safe release” of the girl, whose mother Tina is a Nigerian national. The expat, originally from Murton in Co Durham, runs a bar in the city.

She is the third child to have been kidnapped by gunmen in the region in the past two weeks, although the previous abductions have involved wealthy Nigerians.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We do not know who took her. We are in contact with her parents and are providing assistance.

The High Commission officials are in contact with the Nigerian authorities and we are calling for her immediate and safe release.”

But the kidnapping has also served to heighten concerns about British oilmen who are still working in Nigeria despite the wave of kidnappings involving foreign oil workers.

In 15 separate incidents since January, 2006, 31 Britons and more than 180 foreign nationals have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta, and one Briton has been killed.

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked an oil rig in the southern oil heartland and seized five expatriate workers: an Australian, two New Zealanders, one Lebanese and one Venezuelan.

The High Commission said the fact that such a young child was involved in a kidnapping signalled a worsening of the situation.

One major oil company, Chevron, has already taken all its expat workers out of Nigeria because of mounting security concerns.

But other oil companies are leaving the final decision on whether to remain in Nigeria with the workers, despite Foreign Office advice against all travel to the volatile delta region where Nigeria’s main oil infrastructure is based.

Frank Doran, the Labour MP for Aberdeen North, recently raised his concerns with the Foreign Office about the continued presence of British workers in Nigeria.

And the response he received from Lord Triesman, the Parliamentary under-secretary with responsibility for Africa, has made it clear that the government views the security situation in the region as unsafe and that British nationals should leave.

Lord Triesman’s letter to Mr Doran reads: “Our travel advice for Nigeria currently advises against all travel to the Delta and contains strongly worded warnings about the risks of working there.

“It makes clear that those planning to go to or remain in the Delta, in spite of our advice, should take professional security advice and act upon it.”

Jake Molloy, the general-secretary of the oil workers’ union OILC, said: “The kidnapping of a child is a very worrying development.

“These people seem to be prepared to go to any lengths to secure funds for their various militia groups.

“It is an angle we could never have foreseen. We can only hope that the child is returned swiftly to her parents.

“Until now, expats seemed reasonably secure. But what happened today puts a whole new slant on that.”

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