By Bosen' and Li Huailin

    LAGOS, July 12 (Xinhua)-- Gunmen kidnapped two foreign workers with a German construction firm in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt in Nigerian on Friday.

    More than 200 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since early 2006. Though almost all have been released unharmed, but the ransom the militants have extorted from them was much more than people can imagine.

    The militants, who said they are fighting for greater local control of the region's oil resources, launched a campaign of violence against the oil industry in early 2006 that has shut a fifth of Nigerian output.

    Several armed groups have since mushroomed in the Niger Delta and have taken advantage of the breakdown of law and order in the region to extort hefty ransoms.

    Attacks and bunkering on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut Nigeria's output by around a fifth in recent years, helping push world oil prices to record highs since the beginning of 2006.     

    The Niger Delta is an unstable area of Nigeria, and inter ethnic clashes are common practice, often access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence.

    Pipelines are regularly vandalized by impoverished residents, who risk their lives to siphon off fuel.

    The Niger Delta is an unstable area of Nigeria, and inter ethnic clashes are common practice, often access to oil revenue is the trigger for the violence.

    Pipelines are regularly vandalized by impoverished residents, who risk their lives to siphon off fuel.

    Vandalism is estimated to result in thousands of barrels of crude oil wastage every day a loss to the Nigerian economy of millions of U.S. dollars each year.

    Nigeria, one of world's largest oil-producing nation, is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world with a population of over 130 million. However, mismanagement and successive military governments have left the country poverty-stricken.

    The country is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies, and is one of the fastest growing in the world with the International Monetary Fund projecting growth of 9 percent in 2008 and 8.3 percent in 2009.

    Recently activities of local people against commercial oil refineries and pipelines have destabilized the region.

    Foreign employees of Shell, the primary corporation operating in the region, were taken hostage by outraged local people and such activities have also resulted in greater governmental concern with the area, and the mobilization of the Nigerian army and coastguard into the region.

    Governmental and private initiatives to develop the Niger Deltaregion have been introduced recently.

    These include the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a Government initiative, and the Development Initiative (DEVIN), a community development nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta.

    Unfortunately the struggle has gotten out of control and the present phase has become militant in nature.

    Nigeria needs to stay strong and united and the government needs to help solve the Niger Delta Crisis.

    Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua recently said Nigeria was losing about 80 million U.S. dollars revenue daily due to insecurity in the Niger Delta.

    The President reiterated the resolve of his administration to develop and implement a workable master-plan for the Niger Delta region.

    There is already a comprehensive Niger Delta Region Master Planand an implementing statutory agency; the Niger Delta Development Commission - NDDC on ground, regarding the lingering Niger Delta conundrum.

    It is a known fact that over the past 50 years or so, and particularly in the immediate past eight years (1999-2007), the overall physical, social and economic development problems and challenges facing the people in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have been "over diagnosed" and solutions have been proffered to each and every problem found.

    The governors of the nine oil-producing states are to continue consultation with all stakeholders with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problems of the region. The consultation is to help shape the proposed Niger Delta summit.

    British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday that Britain was ready to help Nigeria tackle lawlessness that has hit oil output from its southern Niger Delta region.

    "We stand ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve the levels of production that Nigeria is capable of, but because of the law and order problems have not been able to achieve," he said in a news conference at the Group of Eight (G8) summit held in Japan recently.

    United States has also promised to assist Nigeria to curb the inflow of arms into the Niger Delta, but has ruled out the use of its military personnel to achieve the objective.

    The White House said it is considering sanctions against American firms which provide cash and arms to militant groups but would "have no boots on the ground."

    American spokesperson Dana Perino said there are already laws against doing business with armed groups and that the administration would enforce them while seeking other means to prevent the inflow of arms.

    The American administration also asked the Nigerian federal government to remove troops from the Niger Delta to encourage all stakeholders to come up with a permanent peaceful means to resolve the crisis.

    The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a major militant group operated in Nigeria's oil-rich southeastern states, on Thursday said it would suspend its ceasefire on Saturday in protest against British promise to support the federal government militarily.

    The group had on June 23 announced the suspension of attacks on oil installations in the volatile region.

    The militant group accused Britain of being part of the Niger Delta problem through its pre-independence policies which gave leverage to some sections of the country against others.

    It warned that if the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made good his threat to support the criminality for the sake of oil the British citizens and interests in Nigeria will suffer the consequences.

    The group is responsible for several abductions of foreigners and attacks on oil installation in Nigeria's Niger Delta since early 2006. But it never harmed any of its hostages.

    It attacks the Bonga Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, leading to the shut-in of 225,000 per day crude oil output.

    The Nigeria federal government may next week announce a new Steering Committee Chairman for the proposed Niger Delta Summit.

    Nigerian Minister of Special Duties, Godsday Orubebe, gave the hint on Thursday just as the names of three eminent Nigerians were being touted in Abuja as the likely replacement for Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Department of Political Affairs..

    Gambari had on Wednesday "excused" himself from carrying out the assignment to avoid constituting an impediment to the "laudable objectives" of the federal government to find a lasting solution to the Niger Delta crisis.

    His appointment was rejected by governors, elders and youths in the region who believed he had spoken badly about the Niger Delta people in the past.

    The committee, among other things, is expected to harmonize logistics and reach out to all ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta region toward a date for the planned Summit.

    President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua recently broke his silence on the raging controversy over the proposed Niger Delta Stakeholders' Summit, insisting that it must be hold in the interest of peace and security and for the development of the oil-producing region.

    He said the summit is crucial to the implementation of policies of his administration, promising that it would not turn out to be another "pointless and diversionary jamboree as some fear".