According to reports from the German Foreign Office, the two engineers were shot dead while making a private outing on a motorbike.
According to a northern German newspaper, The Ostsee Zeitung, the two men, aged 34 and about 20, worked for Julius Berger Plc, a construction company,. Both originated from Germany’s northeastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, the newspaper further said.
The Foreign Office provided no further details, saying the German embassy in Abuja was seeking clarification in close contact with Nigerian authorities.
However, when contacted, a source at the German embassy in Abuja said he would send the phone number and email address of the foreign office in Germany to LEADERSHIP tomorrow for further clarification.
When contacted, the spokesman of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahmadu Ogbole Ode, said he had travelled out of the capital city for the yuletide.
A source at Julius Berger’s head office in Abuja told Deutsche Welle that ‘two expatriate Germans’ were killed last Saturday while riding a motorcycle in Abuja.
Gerd Scharmberg, the mayor of the 34-year-old’s hometown of Born – on the Mecklenburg peninsula of Darß – said local residents were shocked by the news from Nigeria.
“There is enormous sense of commiseration here locally,” he said, adding that the deceased had visited Born only eight weeks ago.
LEADERSHIP recalls that in October 2014, gunmen shot dead a German construction expert in Nigeria’s southwestern state of Ogun while Julius Berger employees were being driven to work. A second German, a sub-contractor to Julius Berger, was abducted by the gunmen and released a week later.
Julius Berger Nigeria Plc has operated in Nigeria since 1965, working mainly on infrastructure projects, and has a staff of 18,000 personnel.
Its German branch, Julius Berger International (JBI), is based in Wiesbaden and has 600 employees assigned in Nigeria.
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