Additionally, the Federal Government stated that preparations are being made to quickly reinstate the stopped rail operation.
According to the Federal Government, no payment was made for the release of the final 23 railway passengers who had been abducted.
TheNation reports that FG revealed it on Friday.
Additionally, the Federal Government stated that preparations are being made to quickly reinstate the stopped rail operation.
To safeguard the safety of the rail line and passengers, it did promise to develop a viable short- and long-term strategy in the coming months.
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo disclosed these in Abuja at a press briefing organized to officially welcome the 23 released kidnapped train passengers.
The Ministry had hinted that the released victims would be in the ministry but after hours of waiting, the minister explained the reason for their absence.
According to him, it was difficult to get them together after reuniting with their families on Thursday.
Speaking on the purported payment of ransom, he said: “It is not appropriate to reveal exactly what measures have been taken to secure the release of hostages of this nature.
“Now, there are two things I want you to bear in mind. Through this incident, it is the position of this government that under no circumstances should there be collateral damage.
“We all know what collateral damage is. In other words, the military and security agencies that have been charged with the responsibility of securing the release of these hostages should not act in a way that will endanger the lives of the same hostages.
“In other words, make sure that no hostage life is lost in the process of securing their release.
In order to secure the release of these hostages, the military and security services received assistance from a group made up of several retired generals and some retired high-ranking public officials.
Three: “This government does not condone and approve payment of ransom, thus I want to clarify definitely that no kobo was given in exchange for the release of these 23 hostages and other hostages as well.
When the train service resumed, he declared: “I have told the press that rather than lose the life of a single Nigerian, we will rather discontinue the rail operation.
Given the level of suffering that the victims and their loved ones were experiencing, “We could not continue with a clear conscience, and we believed that it was not suitable to restore rail services.”
We will restart very soon, I can now assure you of that. Now that train service has been restored, we must put safety precautions in place to make sure that a similar catastrophe never occurs again in this nation.
We have both a short- and long-term plan, so. Knowing that there are some groups of individuals who do not mean well when it comes to security issues and that you don’t want other people to know exactly what you’re saying, I’m going to speak to the press explicitly about this hopefully next week.
“However, rest assured that, as outlined in our Constitution, the protection of the lives and property of the people is any government’s top priority. This government will carry on doing what it has been doing for all of its existence.
“The relatively brief measures will be implemented very quickly to allow rail services to start, and beyond a period of three months, we will implement a sustainable plan that will ensure that our rail lines are safe and secure and that people can travel on them with their minds and hearts guaranteed of protection.”
He said that the freed victims were not present since that was not the plan. They received care, attention, and assurance that everyone’s health was in good shape.
Additionally, they received new attire. Considering that Mr. President just so happened to be in Kaduna yesterday for the award parade. The Nigerian Defence Academy gave him the chance to see the 23 who had been freed, and following their encounter, they were reunited with their families.
The last time we spoke with their coordinator, they said they had a plan to visit the ministry to thank the government through the ministry of transportation. It got tough to gather them back together and bring them here, but they did say that when we last spoke with them. I hope they will.
He responded, “I honestly have no responsibility for the subject,” when asked if they would be reimbursed or given rehabilitation.
The victims are free to obtain post-traumatic therapy, according to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, who also provided specifics on rehabilitation programs.
“The victim’s and family members’ post-traumatic recovery programs are in motion,” she stated. They are still in contact with the hospitals where they received care.
The majority of the 23 are Kaduna locals, and those who were freed earlier still have free access to the hospital for this type of therapy.
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