Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and former Coordinating Minister for Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has lamented the renewed abduction of Nigerian school children by bandits, and has called on the federal government to secure the release of the students unharmed.
Okonjo-Iweala who made the call while speaking in Abuja at the launch of the WTO-ITC 2024 Technical Assistance Programme for Nigeria on Tuesday, said the abduction of students in Kaduna and Sokoto States within a space of two days was disheartening.
She however, expressed hopes that security agencies would be able to rescue the students.
The DG expressed sadness over the mass abduction of students and teachers in the country, adding that education is very crucial to economic development, noting that such incidents contribute to the high level of out of school children.
“I am sad because I am here at a time when once more hundreds of our school children and teachers have been abducted,” Okonjo-Iweala said.
“As a mother, grandmother, educator and someone for whom education is paramount to creating economic opportunities, I am sad.
“And with the representative of my brother, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, I hope we can be able to recover them soon in Kaduna and Sokoto,” the WTO DG said.
Over 200 students and teachers of Government Secondary School Kuriga in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State were last week abducted by bandits who invaded the school.
A day later, another set of bandits reportedly kidnapped no fewer than 15 Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso area of Gada Local Government Area in Sokoto State.