Roundup: Nigerian gov't says freed Chibok girls not swapped with Boko Haram fighters

The Nigerian government on Thursday clarified speculations that the 21 Chibok school girls freed by terror group Boko Haram were swapped with some terrorists.

Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Lai Mohammed told journalists in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that no swap was done.

"Note that this is not a swap. It is a release, the product of painstaking negotiations and trust on both sides," he said.

Mohammed said the freedom of the 21 Chibok school girls should be considered a credible first step in the eventual release of all the Chibok Girls in captivity.

"It is also a major step in confidence-building between us as a government and the Boko Haram leadership on the issue of the Chibok Girls," he added.

Earlier, the Nigerian presidency said the release of the girls, in a limited number, was the outcome of negotiations between the government and Boko Haram.

The negotiation was brokered by the International Red Cross Society and the Swiss government, authorities said.

Early this month, the Nigerian government said it will continue to explore all means to ensure the release of the school girls.

The government had thrice established links with the abductors to perfect the release of the girls in exchange for suspected terrorists but all efforts proved futile.

The Nigerian government said it was looking for credible links with the Boko Haram, to renegotiate the release of the girls.

Upon arrival in Abuja, the released Chibok girls will be attended to by a team of medical doctors, psychologists, social workers and trauma experts, among others, assembled to properly examine the girls, especially because they had been in captivity for so long, according to Mohammed.

They will also be adequately debriefed, he said.

He told journalists that list of the 21 released girls had been compiled by government and their parents are currently being contacted as part of the necessary verification exercise.

A total of 276 girls were seized by armed men who stormed their dormitories on the night of April 14, 2014, at the Girls Secondary School in Chibok town of Borno State.

Two years on, while some 57 girls were brave enough to escape then, 219 of them still missing.

In May, one of the girls escaped from their captors with her baby. Endit