Guido Schiffarth, a German oil worker who was released by kidnappers in southern Nigeria Friday, said he was going to resume normal work and life.

"I was well treated and respected by my hosts," he said, adding: "I will go back to my company and resumed normal work and normal life."

A Rivers State government spokesman who refused to be identified told Xinhua Saturday that the 62-year-old German, a staff of Belfinger and Berger (B+B) Oil and Gas Services based in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, was kidnapped in the oil city on Aug. 3 by men on military Camouflage uniform.

Since then the whereabouts and health of Schiffarth had raised much concern especially as the three Philippines and a Moroccan and Belgian captives abducted after Schiffarth had been freed.

Receiving their staff back into their fold, the members of the management of B+B limited who were at the Government House, and led by the company's Project Manager Hadi Bley, expressed gratitude to the government for affecting the freedom of their worker.

The Niger Delta militant groups have taken over 14 hostages since the beginning of this month.

Mike Ejims, commissioner for budgets who received the hostage on behalf of the government, appealed for a stop to hostage taking, noting that the grievances of the Niger Delta can not be solved by hostage taking.

Since the beginning of this year, more kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities by militants have occurred in the oil-rich region, which have forced the largest oil producer in Africa or the sixth largest oil exporter in the world to cut production by 500,000 barrels per day.

Source: Xinhua