The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has reacted to the abduction of students by bandits in Kaduna and Sokoto States.

Recall over 200 students were recently abducted after bandits invaded the Government Secondary School and LEA primary school Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna.

In a related development, bandits reportedly struck in Gidan Bakuso in Gada Local Government Area of Sokoto State, abducting about 15 Tsangaya students, with several others missing.

Okonjo-Iweala, while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the launch of the WTO-ITC 2024 technical assistance programme for Nigeria, called on the federal government to secure the release of the students.

The former Minister of Finance condemned the kidnaping of the students in the two states. She, however, expressed hope that the students would be recovered soon.

She said: “I am sad because I am here at a time when once more hundreds of our school children and teachers have been abducted.

“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.”