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Bloomberg
Three University of Maiduguri workers allegedly abducted by Boko Haram militants during an ambush on an oil exploration team this week pleaded in a YouTube video released Friday for the Nigerian government to meet their captors’ demands.
The video shows three men identifying themselves as staff at university’s geology department. It was recorded on Friday and they are being held by a Boko Haram faction of Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the leader recognized by the IS, said Solomon A. Yusuf, who spoke on behalf of the three in the video. They don’t say what their captors’ demands are.
Africa’s top oil producer is trying to expand exploration in areas outside the restive Niger River delta in the south where militant attacks on pipelines cut output to an almost 30-year low last year. The team, hired by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., which was concluding geological surveys in parts of the Lake Chad basin, may resume work when “there is security clearance,†Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Kachikwu said Thursday.