Nigerian government ready for Boko Haram talks over release of abducted girls

The Nigerian government has said that it is ready for negotiations with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, for the release of more than 200 abducted girls.

The leader of the notorious terror outfit, Abubakar Shekau, said on Monday that the group was willing to exchange the girls who had refused to convert to Islam for its jailed fighters.

Nigeria's cabinet minister Tanimu Turaki, who has been appointed as special duties minister and chairman of a committee set up by president Goodluck Jonathan to find ways of reaching agreement with Boko Haram, said that Shekau should send people he trusted to meet the standing committee on reconciliation, the BBC reported.

Earlier, Nigeria had refused Boko Haram's request to free imprisoned Islamic militants in return for the release of hundreds of kidnapped schoolgirls.

Interior Minister Abba Moro said Boko Haram, the group holding the girls, was in no moral position to make the offer.

More than 200 girls were abducted from a boarding school in Chibok, north eastern Nigeria, on 14 April.