- Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have kidnapped 10 members of a research team from the north-east
- The research team were abducted near a village called Jibi in Gubio local government area on Tuesday, July 25
- The abducted team were carrying out research work on oil exploration activities in Lake Chad basin
Premium Times reports that Nigerian scientists searching for crude in Lake Chad have been kidnapped by suspected members of Boko Haram.
NAIJ.com gathered that sources in Borno said that the victims were abducted near a village called Jibi in Gubio local government area on Tuesday, July 25, while moving alongside some personnel of the Civilian-JTF.
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A top personnel of the NNPC currently on exploration duty in Alkaleri local government area of Bauchi state who pleaded not to be named due to the sensitivity of information, said the whereabouts of some officials could not be ascertained.
He said: “I have just received a call from our head office asking us to confirm the attack if we have had any contact with our personnel who were supposed to be at the location where they were reportedly attacked.
“We tried reaching some of our boys that were recently deployed from Alkaleri project site through our crew channel and we could not get them.”
Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC spokesperson, confirming the kidnap said those abducted were not NNPC direct staff but sub-contractors.
A department in the NNPC responsible for the exploration sub-contracted part of the work to the Geology department of the University of Maiduguri as part of efforts to encourage indigenous scientists, the spokesperson explained.
Vanguard reports differently, it says gunmen believed to be Boko Haram Islamists kidnapped 10 members of an oil exploration team in north-east.
Ughamadu said: “About 10 staff from the survey and geological department of the University of Maiduguri were abducted on Tuesday.”
Ughamadu said the NNPC had contracted the team to carry out research work on oil exploration activities taking place in the Lake Chad basin.
NNPC has been surveying for more than a year for what it says could be vast oil reserves in the Lake Chad Basin, a region wracked by Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.
NAIJ.com previously reported that many people were feared dead following an attack by Boko Haram terrorists on oil exploration workers around Jibi village situated between Magumeri and Gubio local government areas of Borno state.
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The incident occurred on Tuesday, July 25 when the oil workers who were working for a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation were ambushed by the terrorists.
It was reported that some members of the Civilian Joint Task Force who accompanied them were also feared dead.
Watch a NAIJ.com TV video below on an operation against Boko Haram: