Remaining 8 kidnapped Kogi varsity students rescued – Govt

The Kogi government has announced the rescue of the remaining eight kidnapped students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara.

The Kogi Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, made the announcement in a statement on Sunday in Lokoja.

Fanwo said that Gov. Ahmed Ododo has directed full support towards the recovery of the students and their parents, while modalities are being put in place to make Kogi safer for all.

“The government expresses profound gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for directing the mobilisation of resources to ensure the rescue of the kidnapped students.

“We also thank the National Security Adviser for his immense commitment to the release of the students and the general security of the state.

“The governor thanked all the security chiefs, the director general of DSS, the inspector general of police, and all officers and men of the Armed Forces, including the pilots, who put in their best to support us in reuniting the kidnapped students with their families.

“The Kogi State Command of all the security agencies—Police, DSS, NSCDC, and our local hunters—are also highly appreciated for their efforts towards this feat,” Fanwo said.

“The governor also expressed immense gratitude to his Kwara State counterpart, Gov. AbdulRahmam AbdulRazak, for his personal commitment, cooperation, and support towards the success of the operation that led to the rescue of the remaining kidnapped students.

“The Kwara governor showed the reason he is effectively leading the Nigerian Governors Forum. His actions have also reinforced the Kogi/Kwara cooperation and unity of purpose,” Fanwo said.

He reaffirmed the commitment of Ododo’s administration to continue the drive to recalibrate the security architecture and pay uncompromising attention to the Safe School Initiative.

He added: “As the state with the lowest number of schoolchildren in the North, we have put structures in place to keep our schools safe to ensure every child is not deprived of his or her right to education.

“Kogi has domesticated the Child Rights Act, and we will defend the right of our children to quality education.

“In Kogi, education is free up to the secondary school level.

“We also pay the registration fees for our students to write all internal and external examinations with a budgetary allocation that is way above the UNESCO benchmark for education.

“We do all of these to educate our children and make them responsible contributors to the economy of Nigeria.”.

The commissioner urged citizens to always volunteer intelligence to security agencies to enable them to prevent crime. This is safer, cheaper, and better for us all.

“All of us must come together to defeat banditry, kidnapping, and any form of criminality in our society,” Fanwo said.