The government is making every effort to secure the release of two Chinese workers kidnapped in Nigeria as soon as possible, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday, March 20.

Some armed men abducted the workers, employed by a Chinese company, in the southern Nigerian state of Anambra on Saturday.

"The Chinese government has urged its Nigerian counterpart to make all efforts to rescue the two workers. The Nigerian side has said it would do its best to secure their release," Liu said.

The Ministry of Commerce is highly concerned over the two Chinese workers kidnapped in Nigeria, the ministry's spokesman Wang Xinpei said on Tuesday night.

The ministry asked the Nigerian side to immediately take necessary measures to rescue the kidnapped workers, and take concrete measures to protect Chinese citizens in Nigeria.

Wang also urged Chinese companies and citizens in Nigeria to pay attention to their own safety and take precautions.

This is the third time in two and a half months that Chinese workers have been abducted in Nigeria. On January 5, five Chinese working for Teleken Engineering were kidnapped in Rivers State while installing equipment to upgrade rural telephone services.

Teleken Engineering is a telecommunication company based in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and a subsidiary of China Telecom.

The five workers were released on January 17.

Twenty days later, gunmen abducted nine Chinese workers from the office of China National Petroleum Corp. The workers were part of a team conducting a seismic study in the Sagbama area of Bayelsa state in southern Nigeria. One attacker was killed in the incident.

The workers were freed after 11 days of ordeal and reached Beijing on February 7.

The Foreign Ministry posts warnings on its website regularly to keep Chinese travelers informed of the risks overseas.

Liu Jianchao urged Chinese companies, workers and students overseas to take pre-emptive measures to avoid such situations.