President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has vowed not to pay ransom to kidnappers of students and other people in parts of the country.
The Information Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris Malagi, made the disclosure in Abuja while addressing State House Correspondents on Wednesday.
He said thst the President equally directed security agencies to ensure the rescue of all kidnapped victims without the payment of ransom.
“Mr President has directed that no ransom will be paid by government to any of these criminal elements. I think it’s important that this be put out there,” the minister said.
Recall that in Kaduna, north-west Nigeria, 280 students were kidnapped last week by yet-to-be-identified bandits.
This happened few days after about 400 people were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Borno State.
Accprfing to Idris, “the President reiterated his directive to security agencies and the Ministry of Defense to ensure that those our kids that have been abducted by these criminal gangs are brought back to their homes safely”.
He assured that all abducted people in Borno and Kaduna will be brought back safely soon, adding that security agencies are working round the clock to ensure they are rescued.
“Security agencies are working hard in that direction,” he said.
He also said the government is closely monitoring cases of kidnappings and that security agencies are taking proactive steps to ensure that the trend is halted.
“We are seeing some kind of movement and the more security agencies are also hitting these targets, the more these criminals are pushed to also getting some soft targets. But the government is not making any excuses.”
He added that some countries including the United States, have offered to help Nigeria to rescue the abducted but no agreement has been finalised.
“We are aware that it is not just the US that has actually offered help, other countries have also offered to support Nigeria.
“But what we can tell you is that the government is still reviewing these offers and the position of government will be made known to you,” he said.
