Ten days after the attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train, the Ministry of Transportation held it’s anual ministerial briefing for year 2021 where all heads of Parastatals give account of their stewardship .
Right before the commencement of the event, some family members of the kidnapped persons stormed the venue carrying placards asking for Government to rescue their loved ones from the kidnappers.
Hajiya Idayat Yususf who said two of her sisters are among those kidnapped said the past ten days has been horrible for them and burst into tears as she pleaded for Government to do all it can to help rescue their loved ones.
“we have a lot of family members with underlying health conditions like diabetes, hypertension and more with them and there are no medications. The last ten days have been hell, we are fasting abnormally”
” We are pleading for government to come to our aid”.
Another family member, Mr Saminu Lawal Othman who said his brother with his wife were kidnapped said the kidnappers had called once but so far made no demand for ransome.
“it’s a nightmare. The most difficult ten days I have ever had in my life. We can’t sleep, we can’t eat”
” This can happen to anybody, 80 year old woman is with them, pregnant woman, children,it can be anybody”
The Minister of state for transportation Senator Gbemisola Saraki who stood in for the minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi and the permanent secretary ministry of Transportation Dr Magdalene Ajani appealed to Nigerians to be patient as the ministry is working with security agencies to rescue the kidnapped persons.
Senator Gbemisola gave a summary of the ministry’s focus after which The DGs and CEOs of Parastatals under the ministry highlighted their achievement for the year.
The DG NIMASA Yusuf Jamoh said in the year under review, insecurity on Nigeria’s territorial waters has been seriously reduced to a point where Nigeria has been taken off the watchlist for piracy haven broken a 28 year record. He attributed the success to collaboration and Cooperation of the Navy, airforce , NSCDC and other security agencies.
The DG NPA said a new set of aids to navigation has been purchased and installed while the traffic gridlock has been reduced through new strategy employed.
The ministry of Transportation has been paying attention to rail and maritime sector as most of its key projects to be commisioned this year fall within those areas.
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