LAGOS, 31 Dec. - (ANA) - Nigeria's government is prepared to negotiate with Islamist militant group Boko Haram to secure the release of around 200 schoolgirls kidnapped last year, if credible leaders are identified, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday.

"We are prepared to negotiate with them without any preconditions," Buhari told journalists in a televised interview.

Boko Haram seized the girls from their dormitories in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014, sparking international outrage.

He said there was no firm intelligence on the whereabouts of the girls or whether they are still alive. - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/ 31 December 2015 - - -