In an update to the public on efforts of the government to rescue the abducted girls from Chibok in Borno state, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed told reporters in Abuja, on Friday that the attempts were stalled by a contact group and the division in the Boko Haram camp.
Mohammed reiterated the commitment of the government to trace, locate and ensure the safe and successful release of the Chibok girls.
The minister said in July 2015 a contact group was in touch with the government with credible facts attesting to the fact that some of the girls were alive.
He said the President was briefed and he gave his assent for further negotiations on their release.
According to him, on July 17, 2015, the secret service opened negotiations process with the group holding the Chibok girls.
“However, in return for the release of some of these girls, the group also made some demands,” he added.
“These included the release of some of their fighters arrested including some involved in major terrorist actions, resulting in several fatalities, and others who were experts in manufacturing of locally assembled explosives,” he said.
The minister told reporters that their demands were difficult to accept, but appropriate security agencies had to again inform the President of these demands, and its viewed implications.
He said it was finally agreed by all parties that the first step for the swap would commence on August 1, 2015.
The minister told his audience that in spite of the setback, the government, and the security agencies did not relent in the bid to ensure that the girls were released safely.
He said on Nov. 13, 2015, another fresh negotiation process with the group was initiated.
The minister said by Dec. 10, 2015, another negotiation process was in place, but it failed to achieve results because of the varying demands by the group.
According to him, since the beginning of 2016, the security agencies had remained committed and also taken the lead to ensure their release.
Mohammed said renewed efforts had commenced using trusted assets and facilitators to ensure the release of the girls.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in August said his government has concluded plans to discuss the release of Chibok girls with Boko Haram insurgents.
SEE: Buhari Agrees To Swap Boko Haram Prisoners For Chibok Girls
Buhari said his government had since expressed its readiness to dialogue with bona fide leaders of the terror group, who know the whereabouts of the girls.
Buhari maintained that the terror group, which pledged allegiance to ISIS, had been largely decimated by Nigerian military with the support of immediate neighbors of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
SEE ALSO: Niger And Chad Soldiers Kill 38 Boko Haram Fighters
A faction of Boko Haram militants, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, recently released a new video showing the abducted Chibok girls.
The video showed a masked armed man standing in front of several girls, who, he claimed, were among the over 200 girls abducted from their school hostel at Government Secondary School, Chibok, in 2014.
SEE: New Boko Haram Video Shows Missing Chibok Girls
The man said the video was released to send a message to the parents of the girls to beg the Nigerian government to release Boko Haram members in various detention centers in exchange for the girls.
The man said about 40 of the girls were already married while some were dead. Boko Haram has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths in Nigeria since 2009.
SEE ALSO: Army Rescues 566 People Held By Boko Haram
