The eleven Nigerian miners recently rescued from the Central African Republic (CAR) have expressed deep gratitude to the Federal Government for securing their release and ensuring their safe return home.
Speaking on behalf of the group in Abuja on Thursday, Mr. Freeborn Igorigo thanked President Bola Tinubu for what he described as a timely intervention and for the warm, dignified reception accorded to them upon arrival.
The miners were reportedly lured to CAR by a Nigerian agent working with a Chinese national. In a viral video earlier this year, they appealed for help, revealing they had been abandoned without pay for 11 months despite being hired for mining work.
Recounting their ordeal in the CAR forest, Igorigo said they endured hazardous conditions, threats from armed soldiers, physical assaults, unlawful imprisonment, and prolonged deprivation.
“Some of us have medical conditions from hazardous exposure and accidents in the forest. We were threatened and beaten by soldiers and also imprisoned for nothing,” he said.
Igorigo, who had worked with the company for three years and had been in CAR since September 2024, disclosed that he recorded and shared the viral video after Chinese workers were evacuated from the site while the Nigerians were left behind in dangerous isolation.
“When we tried to join the departing workers, we were met with armed threats and violence,” he recalled.
He commended the Nigerian public, the media, and all those who amplified their plight, noting that the rescue was achieved through the coordinated efforts of Nigeria’s Ambassador to CAR, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
However, Igorigo lamented that despite a year away from their families, they were returning home empty-handed, with nine months’ salaries still unpaid.
“While the company occasionally gave us small amounts as ‘3D money’ to appease us, promises of full payment were never kept,” he said, stressing that the rescue was only “the first step.”
He urged the authorities, including the DSS, the Ministry of Mines, and the Federal Government, to ensure they receive their outstanding wages, warning that failure to act could embolden further exploitation of Nigerians abroad.
Following the viral video, the Nigerian Embassy in CAR, working with local security forces, located the miners and escorted them on a multi-day journey from their remote site to Bangui, the CAR capital.
They were flown into Abuja on an Asky Airlines Boeing 747-200 aircraft (registration ET-AXO), which landed at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday. The group was accompanied by Nigeria’s Ambassador to CAR, Mr. Babagana Ahmed, and received by a Federal Government delegation led by NEMA’s Director General, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, represented by the Director of Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Kenneth Oyong.