The release of the over 200 schoolgirls taken away from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in North-West Nigeria will be one of the dividends of the ceasefire with Boko haram announced today by Nigerian authorities.

Fifty-seven escaped of the 276 girls seized by the terrorist in the night of April 14 managed to escape but the rest have remained in captivity. Commenting on the ceasefire announced by Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Principal Secretary Hassan Tukur said that the release of the girls is part of the deal with Boko Haram.

Air Chief Marshal Badeh spoke in a similar vein, confirming that there had been direct negotiations this week about the release of the Chibok schoolgirls.

Shedding more light on the issue, Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr. Mike Omeri, told a news conference in Abuja that Boko Haram negotiators “assured that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are all alive and well.”

The negotiations reportedly took place in neighbouring Chad.

The kidnap of the Chibok schoolgirls had stirred global outrage, with the #BringBackOurGirls group led by former Education Minister Oby Ezekweisili sustaining the pressure on the Jonathan administration to do everything necessary to secure the release of the girls.

•Photo shows some of the Chibok schoolgirls as appeared in a Boko haram video.