Nigerian govt rules out ransom payment for abducted Niger students, staff

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the Federal Government will not pay any ransom for the release of abducted students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

The minister stated this while appearing on Sunrise Daily, an early morning programme of Channels Television.

Mohammed, while responding to a question on if it was true that government already paid the bandits a huge sum of money for the release of the abductees, said no and that government was not considering that option.

“We employ kinetic and non-kinetic (measures), you don’t throwaway invitation to engage but the overall strategy you keep to your chest”, he said.

Read also: Nigerian govt will deploy all resources to free abducted Kagara students – Lai Mohammed

While insisting the government won’t allow any form of criminality in the country, the minister said further: “Bandits all over the world work with psychology of people. Deliberately, they target women and children because this is what will attract a lot of global outcry. That is exactly what bandits do all over the world.

“The government has put in place, all along, various strategies to contain banditry, to fight insurgency, to fight kidnapping. Some of these measures are kinetic, some are not kinetic. We didn’t get here overnight and that is why it is difficult to get out one day.

“Criminality in any form will not be tolerated by government. At the same time, government has a duty to look at the underlining causes of some of these criminalities in other to address them.

“I was in Minna with my colleagues, the Ministers of Interior and Police Affairs, the IG, and the National Security Adviser on Wednesday to get a firsthand information on the abduction of these Kagara schoolboys. I can tell you that as at today that the government is on top of the matter.”

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