Masked gunmen kidnapped a three-year-old British girl yesterday as she was on her way to school in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt. The child, Margaret Hill, is the daughter of Mike Hill, a Briton married to a Nigerian.

She was snatched from the back seat after the Jeep carrying her to school was surrounded by gunmen when it stopped at a traffic light on the busy Ada George highway. Her Nigerian driver was stabbed several times in the arm.

The kidnappers, who sped off in a saloon car, later telephoned Mr Hill to say that his daughter was safe. Police declined to say how much ransom they were demanding, but it is likely to be several thousand pounds.

Foreign oil workers in the region are frequently kidnapped and can be held for several weeks until a ransom is paid. Until now, however, the families of oil workers, particularly children, have been spared, but last week two Nigerian children were taken. They were released unharmed.

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Expatriate workers are frequently kidnapped and then released, but so far their families have been spared

Jonathan Clayton

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“This is entrepreneurial kidnapping of the type you used to see in Colombia or Mexico. The girl will not be in serious danger, but it is a very disturbing new game in town,” an expatriate resident in the city said.

Militant groups, often linked to criminal gangs demanding a bigger share of the deeply impoverished region’s enormous oil wealth, began kidnapping foreign oil workers and attacking oil installations about 18 months ago.

Most oil workers live on offshore rigs, but those in Port Harcourt are housed in heavily guarded compounds and are not allowed to leave the premises except in guarded convoys However, Mr Hill, who has lived in Nigeria for many years, was not employed by one of the major oil companies. Instead, he runs a well-known bar in the city, called Goodfellas – until recently a popular haunt of foreign oil workers.

He also works for an oil-supply company, Lone Star, contracted by Royal Dutch Shell to run some of its offshore rigs. One of these was attacked on Wednesday and five expatriate workers were taken hostage. It is not clear whether the two incidents are linked.

The main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, called off a month-long truce this week. It said that it was fed up with the slow pace of negotiations with the new Government of President Yar’Adua, who was elected in disputed polls last April. He has pledged to bring peace back to the region, but many militants are angry that the Government’s tactics appear simply to be an attempt to buy off the ringleaders.

Chris Newsom, of the local StakeHolders’ Democracy Network, said: “The whole problem is that the Government is just not getting how serious the situation now is in the Delta. They are making a lot of noise but it is not getting quality attention. As a result, violence here is often rewarded.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office called for the girl’s immediate release and is in contact with her family and the Nigerian authorities. A spokesman advised Britons to leave the Niger Delta because of the “very high risk” of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks.

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