Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the eastern Niger Delta, said the Lebanese expatriate working for Nigeria-based Elite Construction Company was seized and taken to an unknown destination on Wednesday.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta over the past three years, the vast majority of them released unharmed after payment of a ransom.

Some of the kidnappings have been carried out by militant groups who say they are fighting for a fairer share of the region's natural wealth, but copy-cat gangs have taken advantage of the insecurity to carry out abductions purely for profit.