No fewer than 83 health workers in Katsina State have been kidnapped by bandits in the last eight years, the chairman of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Comrade Mannir Mohammed Suleiman, has said.

He revealed this at a dinner organised in honour of Dr Shamsuddeen Yahaya on his reappointment as the executive secretary of the state Primary Healthcare Agency in Katsina.

Suleiman said the incidents occurred between 2015 and this year, adding that 65 of them were released after payment of ransom while 16 others were killed.

The unionist said of the number, one person escaped with a bullet wound while one has not been found in the last four years.

The chairman therefore requested the state government to review the health workers staff register and welfare, particularly in the frontline local government areas prone to attacks.

He congratulated the reappointed executive secretary of the health agency, stressing that this has demonstrated the confidence the state governor has in him to steer the agency to greater heights.

While praying to Almighty Allah to guide and protect the reappointed health care agency boss, Comrade Mannir Mohammed Suleiman pledged the union’s support and cooperation in the discharge of his responsibilities.

Culled from Leadership Newspapers